


Never Forgotten

by BunnyBean



Category: Tennis no Oujisama | Prince of Tennis
Genre: Alternate Reality, Complete, Drama, F/M, Happy Ending, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-10-09
Updated: 2012-10-09
Packaged: 2017-11-15 23:23:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 25,041
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/532911
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BunnyBean/pseuds/BunnyBean
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A connection, an accident and determination fuel their love. Will it ever work out or will they keep missing their chances?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Obsession

**Author's Note:**

> This is an Alternate Reality where Ryoma and Sakuno never went to Jr. High School together because Ryoma didn't move to Japan. It is kind-of in a "what-if" type of setting as well. Ryoma and Sakuno are also older from the beginning, so pay attention to the age changes. At times they may be a little bit OOC, but that's from the differences I've incorporated into the story plot, not so much a deliberate attempt to be OOC or a flagrant disregard on their characterizations.

**Never Forgotten**

A RyoSaku alternate reality romance fanfic by Bunny

* * *

Chapter One – Obsession

* * *

 

I, Ryuzaki Sakuno, am obsessed. No ifs, ands or buts about it.

It all started when I was fourteen. I found myself flipping through the channels trying to find something to watch on a Sunday afternoon. I quickly by-passed the re-runs, the soap operas, the dramas, the sitcoms, the cartoons, the game shows….blah, blah, blah, I had seen it all before. And then, by chance I stumbled upon a tennis match. Wimbledon to be exact, (though I didn't know at the time) and that was when I first saw him.

I found myself riveted to the television. I couldn't look away even for a second as I watched in anticipation for the next amazing maneuver the cute guy that appeared to be my age would do next. He was dominating his opponent and it blew me away. How could he be so good? How did he learn how to do all those wonderful techniques? How could he get the ball to fly at his opponent's face like that? How? How? How? I'd never found any sport, least of all tennis, so completely fascinating before. He brought life to the game, he brought attitude to it. He was confident and strong and he played so beautifully. He was everything I wasn't and I wanted to be just like him. I admired him instantly and it quickly became oh so much more.

With a perfect final set, he had won the match and giving a smirk to the camera; he had walked off the court and left me a different person. And I didn't even know his name. Snapping out of my stupor at the announcer's comments on the match, I quickly scribbled his name as it flashed on the screen with the time of his next match on a piece of paper. I wouldn't miss it for the world.

Echizen Ryoma. He's a tennis prodigy extraordinaire. Saying that he's amazing, or incredible, or awesome would be a gross understatement. He isn't just a tennis player,  _he is tennis_. It only took my stumbling upon that one chance game and I was hooked for life. There was something so appealing to me about seeing someone my age accomplishing so much. Well, okay so maybe he's a few weeks older than me…needless to say, he was inspiring. And perfect. He's perfectly inspiring, that's what. He smacked his opponent on the court that day and he smacked my heart for good. I would never forget that day. Even years later, I could still recall the faces he made, the body language he used, and the moves he used to defeat his opponent on the court.

There was however, a very silly thing about this.

The Wimbledon that year was actually his debut on the Grand Slam tennis circuit. When I discovered him, he was a no-name barely qualified to compete at Wimbledon tennis player. Only a few had ever heard of him. And that match I caught him on? It was the first match of the tournament and Echizen Ryoma actually had a long ways to go. No, he didn't win Wimbledon that year. In fact, he didn't even make it to the semi-finals, but to me, he had already won.

I supported him though. I had discovered him early on, it seemed. Before he got so good that nobody could stand up against him. Before he gained the attention of the whole world and was recognized by all for his talent. Before The Echizen Ryoma Fanclub was formed, and before The Official Echizen Ryoma Fanclub was formed. (Yes, there was actually a difference.) Before every girl in my age group knew his name and sighed over his face that was splashed across teen magazines and tabloids.

To me, he was so much more than how the other girls all saw him. Yes, he was inspiring. Yes, he was brilliant on the courts. Yes, he was melt-your-knees and fall into a puddle of goo hot when he smiled or smirked. But…to me, he was so much more than that. I watched him and I knew him. Somehow, I knew him. It was as if we were somehow connected. I didn't really comprehend it all at the time, I just knew that I really cared about him and kept track of what he was up to and thought about him all the time. It wasn't just about his skills or his looks for me. It was about  _him_. The real Echizen Ryoma, the boy behind the tennis racquet and the self confident smirk. The person inside that came up with his little, "mada mada dane," phrase he loved to taunt his opponents with.

Yes, I, Ryuzaki Sakuno was quite obsessed. Goodness me, I even took up tennis in an attempt to understand him better and well…to perhaps maybe get good enough to meet up with him at a tournament. Yes, I was that obsessed. My attempts at becoming a world famous tennis player myself were actually fairly quickly squashed. While having a decent knack for the game, thank Grandma for that – she was actually a tennis coach by profession and was only too happy to see me taking up an interest in the sport – I didn't have the raw, seemly natural talent for the game needed to end up in the Grand Slam circuits that Echizen Ryoma was in. Damn…I wasn't even good enough for regionals, or nationals, let alone the world scene of tennis. That idea failing me, I decided to take things in a different direction.

A year later I found myself boarding a plane to finally go and see him. I was going to see Echizen Ryoma play at Wimbledon. Somehow, somehow, I would meet him. Somehow, I would see him and he would notice me and all my dreams would come true. Maybe...well, stranger things have happened, right? By winning the Australian Open earlier this year, at barely over 15, Echizen Ryoma had beaten greater odds already, right?

As I boarded the huge airbus that would fly from Tokyo to London, I couldn't help but feel a little bit nervous. I guess you could say that I didn't really know what I was getting into. I was excited about finally being even in the same country as Echizen Ryoma. Yes, although he was definitely Japanese, he apparently lived in New York in the United States with his family. So being Japanese myself had yet to assist me in reaching my goal. Finally, we would be close enough physically to actually see each other.

But what if I didn't get to see him? What if I didn't meet him? What if I did meet him and he didn't like me? What if he didn't feel the same connection? It's not like there was anything special about me that made me stand out that I could get his attention with. Oh, I was really rather scared when I thought about it. But then…if I didn't do something, if I didn't just try to meet him, if I didn't make the effort, I would never forgive myself and I would always, always wonder. The pull to him was too strong. He was like a beacon of light that called out to me and I was the willing moth called to his brilliant flame. I just didn't know if he would burn me up or connect me into his light and allow me into his bright, beautiful world.


	2. Savior

**Never Forgotten**

A RyoSaku romance fanfic by Bunny

* * *

Chapter Two – Savior

* * *

 

She was my savior. She was a beautiful, long twin braided little slip of a girl and she saved me.

From what? Well, myself for one. I was lonely. I was always lonely. My only real friend was Karupin, my cat. Pathetic, I know. At the time, I didn't really care though. All the people around me, the people that swore that they loved me and cared about me and only wanted what was best for me…they didn't really. They only wanted me to be a world class tennis star.

It was for this purpose that I was born into this world. Since I was a baby, I was holding a tennis racquet, and to this day, I still am. It's a blessing, it's a curse, and it is definitely my fate. To be a lonely star set adrift on the world scene of those that have a special gift or talent. Always knowing that I was only valued in the eyes of those around me for what I could do for them. Make them rich; give them glory, a fantasy, power. Don't misunderstand. I love tennis, it is my life. It is also, however, all I've ever really known.

That is, until I met  _her_. Although, in retrospect, "met her" is actually not a very accurate way of putting it. I didn't even walk away that day with a name. Just a picture of her in my head and a sweet memory of a cute girl my age that seemed to actually care about  _me_. And by me, I mean the person that I am, not the skills I have, or the looks I have or any of the other things I have that throw people into my path and my life. She saw me. I'm not sure how I knew, but I did. I just knew she saw  _me_.

It wasn't until later on though, that I really realized what I had lost. At the time, I was just using her because she was there and she was the only person that seemed to give a damn. But later, when I thought about it, when I saw her concerned face in my memory and her worried eyes looking over me, I realized it. She cared about me.

It was during the semi-finals at my second Wimbledon. I was 15 and at the beginning of that year I had finally taken my first title at the Australian Open. Finally, I had won a title. It took my third world tournament to get it, but I had made it to the top. Now Wimbledon was next and then the US Open and I'd hit the Grand Slam title that my old man had been pushing me towards since before I could talk.

My opponent in the semi-finals that year had a very interesting technique. By continuously alternating between topspin and slice shots, he was able to make my muscles continuously contract and freeze up for an instant; stopping me from returning a shot. It was so brief that those with an untrained eye could miss it. It got me. It got me over and over and as I tried to figure out how to overcome it, it continued to get me. Not like that was enough to stop me. I was not only going to overcome his "spot" technique as he liked to call it, but I was also going to master it myself. I picked up everybody's special techniques; I only needed to see them a few times, though I usually did stick with my few favorites that never failed me.

So here I was, in the midst of a vicious Wimbledon semi-final match with a guy that could get my body to freeze up on me and fail me when  _it happened_. I was spinning around to return the ball when I found myself in the "spot" and found that while in the "spot' one would also lose their grip. I watched in shocked horror as my racquet slipped from my hand and sailed full speed into the net's pole. It shattered upon impact and the broken handle bounced back towards me. Before I could move to avoid it, the ridged edge of the broken handle flew into my left eye and all I could see was red.

Red.

Red.

Red.

I grasped my hand over my eye as I fell onto my knees in the shortly clipped grass of the court and my right eye watched the blood drip onto the grass. Drip, splash, splosh, oh God, there was blood everywhere; I could feel it running down my hand before it hit the grass. The pain in my eye was so intense I didn't know what else to do but stare at the dripping blood in horror. A million thoughts ran through my shocked head. How could this be? How had this happened to me? Had I just been blinded? What about my match? Could I finish the match like this?

And that's when I heard her voice, breaking the silence of the stadium; she was calling out to me.

"Are you okay?"

Huh?

"Are you all right?"

Was that…Japanese?

"Let me go! He's injured!"

What? As if they would understand her.

"Only players are allowed on the court!"

Is that girl yelling in Japanese trying to get on the court?

"He's bleeding; he needs help, let me go! Are you okay?"

My curiosity getting the better of me, I finally looked up to see what the commotion was all about. And my one working eye was met with two concerned brown eyes, completely focused on me with obvious worry.

…who?

Who is this girl?

What is she doing trying to get on the court? Is she stupid? Obviously, she didn't understand the English, but what tennis fan didn't know tennis etiquette? And if she didn't know it, what was she doing at Wimbledon?

I'd never been so embarrassed and yet, somewhat touched in my whole life. I was hurt, and she wasn't screaming about how it would ruin my game, or yelling at me to "get up" or "shake it off," but she was worried about  _me_. When everyone had been silent and seeing what I would do, she was rushing to help me. She was trying desperately to communicate her concern, even though nobody else seemed to understand her.

I watched in fascination as she somehow wriggled past the ball boys trying to hold her back and she rushed to my side. I blushed as I got a flash of her panties when she stopped short and squatted down in front of me. She put one hand on my shoulder and started to look at where my hand was covering my bleeding eye.

"Are you okay?" she asked, softly.

"Get off the court," I commanded in Japanese figuring she hadn't understood the ball boys' English.

She recoiled; moving her hand off of me she rose and took a step back, looking crushed.

What? Didn't she know she was breaking the rules and embarrassing me? It wasn't personal; stupid girl.

"But-" she began, only to be cut off by the referee.

"You there, everyone has to leave the court except the players," he yelled pointing to her.

Understanding somehow that she was being told to leave by the referee too, she huffed, "Fine!"

Before I knew it she had taken my free hand and begun dragging me off the court towards the bench.

"My racquet is broken," I commented, looking back at it forlornly.

"You should be more worried about your eye right now!" she scolded as she pushed me down onto the bench.

I gave her an irritated look. She just didn't get it, did she?

She ignored my look as she retrieved the first aid kit set aside for such things and came back to kneel in front of me. She gently took my hand away from my eye and dabbed at it with a large bandage, trying to soak up the blood running from my eye.

"It looks like it's just the top of your eyelid," she murmured softly.

"Hn."

"Can you open your eye?" she asked as she pulled the bandage away briefly.

I opened my eye, and was immediately relieved that I hadn't lost my vision. That would have been an inconvenience. She was there, only a few inches from my face, and for the first time, I saw her with both of my eyes. I took a second to take in her appearance better. I noticed a purple clip in her hair, long braids flowing down her back all the way to the floor, big, brown, worried eyes, and an obvious frown before my eye was once again covered with a large bandage. I finished taking her in with my right eye. She was wearing a short tennis skirt and top, not unusual for any of the girls present at a tennis match. Her bare legs were bent to support her and I immediately blocked the memory of her flashing me before dragging me off the court. What the hell was I thinking about? I suppressed a blush from forming once again.

"It's bleeding like crazy," she commented.

"Hn." No kidding? Did you get a degree in medicine to figure that out? The girl had an amazing grasp on the obvious. Okay, I admit it, I was really cranky about getting injured and I was taking it out on her.

She sighed.

"What do you want to do?" she asked softly.

I looked at her as she continued to change bandages; soaking up the blood coming out of my eyelid and wondered again what she was doing there and why she was helping me.

"Echizen-san?" she questioned when I didn't answer.

"I want to finish my match," I offered.

"I think you need to go to the hospital," she looked sorry telling me that and I tilted my head slightly in question.

"I know that this is really important to you, and that you definitely want to win this year, but I don't know how you can do it with your eye like this," she explained.

What's this? She doesn't think I can beat this guy? Okay, so maybe I was getting a little discouraged, and getting injured had taken me by surprise, but there was NO WAY I was losing. Nobody beats me at tennis. This girl needs to understand. I moved her hand with the bandage out of the way and wiped my eye on the sleeve of my t-shirt.

"There, all better," I said.

A moment later, I closed my eye again as blood started dripping into it.

Damn.

She smirked at me, "Mada mada dane."

WHAT? Did this girl just…?

I narrowed my one working eye at her in obvious irritation.

"Okay, I'll make you a deal," she said.

A deal? As if I have to listen to this stupid girl in the first place? The hell? Fine, what?

Taking my silence as her queue to continue she did, "Can you play with just one eye? I can bandage up this one and cover it so the bleeding will be controlled."

Now we're talking. Okay, so maybe this girl wasn't so bad after all. I looked at her in wonderment as she put my hand over the bandage to hold it in place and used both hands to rummage through the first aid kit. Did she really get it?

"Hey girl – I can play with both of my eyes closed and one hand tied behind my back and still beat this guy," I told her.

She looked up at me with a soft smile, admiration and trust shining out of her eyes, "I'm sure you can."

Bragging…had never felt so good. She really believed in me. Wow. I'm so pumped up. This guy is going to leave the courts today crying I'm going to beat him so hard.

I smirked at her and she pulled the bloody bandage out of my hand and started wrapping my eye up, taping the bandages around my face so it would stay put.

"I'll give you ten minutes to beat him, Ryoma-kun and if you don't beat him by then, you have to promise me you will forfeit and get this treated at the hospital," she said with a stern look. It took me a few days before I remembered how she changed her address of me to an affectionate one – that would later keep me up late at night thinking about her.

I glanced with my good eye at the time clock on the wall above the court and looked back at her, "No problem."

"Well, then, do your best," she said as she stood and wiped the grass off her bare knees. I watched for a moment in fascination. I would later wonder what the hell I had been hit with to be so focused on a girl's bare legs.

"Thanks," I replied.

And then…as quickly as she had appeared, she disappeared.

I did win that game in less than 10 minutes, but after all that, I didn't see the girl again at Wimbledon. If it wasn't for the live video they had taped of the whole thing, and being able to watch the whole scene play out over and over again on the recordings I would have long ago concluded that she had been imagined. She was real though. She was my savior. She was the only person that ever really understood and really cared. She didn't seem to care if I won or lost, but she supported my desire to win. She told me to do my best and she believed in me. It was all I ever needed.

However, she was gone. I had no name, no way of contacting her, no way of knowing if I would ever see her again. She didn't seem to be your typical tennis fan. She had saved me when I unknowingly had really needed someone there for me and after realizing all this, I finally understood what it really meant to be lonely. I had to find her again. I needed to see her again. Somehow, somehow, someway I would see her again. We were connected, I knew that much. From that point forward, whenever I played, I played for her. Are you watching me, long braided haired girl with the big brown eyes?

 


	3. Stare Down

**Never Forgotten**

A RyoSaku romance fanfic by Bunny

* * *

Chapter Three – Stare Down

* * *

 

It would be six months before I saw Ryoma-kun again. That day I met him at Wimbledon was the most precious day of my life. I had talked with him! While at first, I had thought that maybe he didn't like me at all, after talking with him and helping him out, I realized it hadn't been personal. He was trying to warn me to get off the court since I seemed to be violating some rule. I didn't fully grasp the situation until I got home. I read up about it, and I watched my embarrassing stunt broadcasted on the sports channels for months afterwards. "Japanese Girl Rushes to Echizen Ryoma's Side During his Injury!" It was the biggest sports scandal in a while. Hearing the commentator's thoughts translated into my own language so I could really understand what had happened proved to embarrass me further.

What was I supposed to do, though? He was hurt. He was bleeding and nobody was doing  _anything_! What was wrong with these people? It was a stupid rule! If a player is bleeding on the court, somebody needs to go and help them immediately! Sometimes, tennis really frustrated me.

Ryoma-kun though, he had been everything I thought and more. He was so confident and self-assured. He was so positive in his abilities. He was not discouraged by being injured. He had shined so brightly sitting on the bench glaring at me with his good eye. I wanted so desperately to rush him off to be treated; my concern for him being foremost. However, Ryoma-kun would not be Ryoma-kun if something like that had stopped him from finishing his match at Wimbledon. No, Ryoma-kun had to finish his match. So, I did all I could do for him. I did what I had always done for him. I supported him.

I think he understood. The look he had given to me said he understood. Sometimes though, I doubt, I wonder. If he saw me again, would he even remember me?

Soon enough, I would find out.

Just after turning 16, I was able to go to the Australian Open. It was the anniversary of Ryoma-kun's first title. The title he obtained that triggered the beginning of his fame - when his name began to be splashed all over magazines, TV, and other forms of media. "The Prince of Tennis – Echizen Ryoma Wins Again!" The beginning of the time when other girls my age fawned over his pictures at school and his name was frequently heard in the classrooms.

I continued to support him in my silence. Sure, those in my school who knew me and had seen the footage of Wimbledon gave me strange looks at times; others would grill me for details about "Ryoma-sama!" To the rest of the world though, I was the nameless Japanese girl that made a fool of herself bandaging him up during the semi-finals of Wimbledon. You know what? I would do it all over again in a second, so there!

I had desperately wanted to go to all of Ryoma-kun's matches. It was impossible though. He was traveling all over the world, and he was very busy. I was also busy living a normal Japanese high school life working diligently at my studies, but I was also thinking of him constantly. It had taken until the Australian Open for me to save up enough funds to get on a plane to go see him, as well as, get permission to fly off on my own again.

I was in so much trouble last time. Admittedly, I am a bit of a scatterbrain when it came to schedules, directions and other things of that nature. On the day I met Ryoma-kun I had discovered even before his match ended that my departing flight home was actually THAT DAY. I had completely messed up the time schedule in my confusion between the time zones of England and Japan. I had cried the whole way home, so unbearably disappointed that I couldn't congratulate Ryoma-kun on a job well done and see him in the finals.

This time, I would somehow get it right. I would see Ryoma-kun again.

I was filled with nervous anticipation. Would he remember me? Did he ever think of me after that day? Would he want to get to know me this time? How would I be able to get his attention? Somehow, I would make this work. Somehow.

This time, I planned to arrive a day early, before the official matches even began. Upon arriving at the tournament grounds I had immediately set about wandering the courts, hoping I would be able to find Ryoma-kun practicing or warming up somewhere. I knew he was very strict with his training and constantly tried to improve his game. He wouldn't be out doing anything right now except playing tennis. I just needed to track him down.

It must have been my lucky day. As directionally challenged as I could be, I stumbled upon Ryoma-kun almost right away. He was tucked up on a small open court obviously put there for warming up. He was playing against a middle-aged man – who was not only consistently taunting him, but was also scoring many points against Ryoma-kun at tennis. Not that they were keeping a count, but still…unbelievable! Who was this man? I glared at the back of the man's head as I took a seat behind the chain link fence separating the court from the spectator's benches. There were a surprisingly large number of people sitting around the court, watching the two playing.

After settling and looking around to observe all the people present, I looked back towards Ryoma-kun only to find his eyes pinned on me. Oh God, oh God, oh God, he's looking at me. Does he remember me? He's staring at me.

His face was expressionless as he continued to volley the ball back and forth, never taking his eyes off of me. How could he play without looking at the ball this way? Is this how he was able to win the semi-final game at Wimbledon last year? Could Ryoma-kun really play so well that he didn't need his vision?

Mesmerized by his intense stare, I couldn't look away. The world around us seemed to fade away. There were just Ryoma-kun's intense hazel eyes and the sound of the tennis ball contacting with the racquets and the ground.

-pok-

-thump-

-pok-

-thump-

-pok-

-thump-

-pok-

The taunting continued between plays. Ryoma-kun didn't respond, he just kept playing and staring into my eyes. Finally, after several volleys, the other player commented on his lack of watching the ball.

"Hey boy, what are you looking at?" he yelled. Wow! Did Ryoma-kun usually speak Japanese instead of English? Sure he spoke to me in Japanese, but the reasons for that were obvious. I found this so surprising, I mean, didn't he live in the United States? Wouldn't English kind-of be his first language? Well, then…maybe it was because there were so many people watching and they didn't want to be overheard?

Ryoma-kun finally broke eye contact with me to glare at the other player. The man turned then and scanned those of us sitting on the small stands behind him. A moment later, his eyes rested on me, and giving me a smirk not unlike Ryoma-kun's he turned back towards the court and served the ball.

I blushed and looked away in embarrassment. Did that old guy just figure out that Ryoma-kun was looking at me? Maybe I should just go? I don't think I can handle all this attention after the embarrassment of what happened last time. Yes, I would do it again, but that doesn't mean I wouldn't be embarrassed. I looked back towards Ryoma-kun to find his eyes watching me once again. It was seconds before I found myself completely locked into his gaze.

Ryoma-kun – make the world melt away and take me with you. Wherever you go, whatever you want to do, I will support you. Let's go. Staring at him like this, and feeling his attention on me…it was addicting.

Finally, the ball stopped its constant volleying.

"Okay boy, that's enough. Go rest up we have an early start tomorrow. Try not to get so distracted by the cute girls in the audience during your matches," the man said.

"Shut up," Ryoma-kun answered as he passed the man on his way across the court, still not breaking eye contact with me. He stopped at the fence separating us.

"Oi! Are you going to come here and say hello to me or what you stupid girl?" he yelled up to me.

Rattled, I had frantically looked around, wondering if he was really truly addressing me or not. Wasn't it strange for a player to speak with the audience? Even if it was just practice on a small open court, this wasn't really done, was it? Resigning myself to doing something embarrassing yet again, I had finally stood up to make my way down to him when Ryoma-kun was stepping back from the fence to avoid the flood of girls that had suddenly congregated in front of him.

Oh no! Maybe he didn't mean me? Really, what would he have to do with me? He probably didn't even remember me, right? Who was I kidding? I was just a plain nobody girl, it's not like I would ever really have his attention. I sat back down dejectedly.

"Hey you stupid girl, will you get down here?" Ryoma-kun yelled from the court floor.

I looked up at his call and noticed him giving me that irritated look I had been subjected to at Wimbledon. Not knowing what else to do, I scrambled down the few steps to the court, "R-r-ryoma-kun?"

In a flash, Ryoma-kun had unlocked the gate, yanked me into the fenced in court and slammed the gate behind me. I looked at him, startled that he had dragged me inside like that so quickly. Well, I wasn't really expecting this…

"Are you embarrassed?" he asked as he turned away from me and started walking to the other side of the court.

Assuming he wanted me to follow him, I walked behind him slowly trying to comprehend what was happening.

"Consider it payback for last time," he said, turning to look back at me. The distance between us was getting larger as he was walking at a normal relaxed pace and I was trailing behind rather slowly.

"I'm sorry, Ryoma-kun," I finally said. There, I apologized for embarrassing him.

He didn't comment, instead turning back to me, "Hurry up then. I don't have all day."

I rushed forward, slowing my pace again to match his as we made our way to where Ryoma's tennis bag was placed on the sideline bench.

"I was worried that if I took my eyes off of you that you would disappear again," he offered as he lifted his large tennis bag from the bench and took a sip from his sport's bottle.

"Disappear?" I questioned.

"Yes, stupid girl. What happened at Wimbledon?" he snapped.

"My name is Sakuno!"

Oh goodness, where did that come from? Did I just yell at him? Okay, so maybe I didn't like being called stupid girl, but I shouldn't have yelled at him.

He gave me a satisfied smirk. What? What was that all about? Why did he look like he just won something? I just yelled at him.

"Well then, Sakuno-chan let's go," he said.

"Go where?" I questioned as I followed him out of the court directly into a long building. We were in some sort of corridor that had doors on the sides. Maybe this was some sort of locker room for the players?

"I never got to thank you for fixing my eye, so I'll take you out for dinner," he was saying as we walked through the hallway that seemed to separate the "ladies" from the "gentlemen" areas.

"A-ano…Ryoma-kun doesn't need to do that," I found myself saying. No, wait! I would really love to have dinner with you Ryoma-kun!

"Is there a problem?" he asked.

"N-n-no," I stuttered, suddenly feeling extremely nervous. I was suddenly so anxious and nervous I couldn't even begin to control my racing mind. What was wrong with me? I'd never been so nervous around a boy before. I wasn't nervous like this around Ryoma-kun last time. Well, last time I was pretty distracted by the blood and my concern, but…DATE!!! Didn't this constitute a date? Oh no…nonononono, I'm not even wearing something cute enough for a date! Mou! Does this mean Ryoma-kun likes me or is this really just a thank-you? Wait, he remembered me didn't he? Didn't that mean something? Waitaminute - didn't - didn't - didn't things like  _kissing_  happen on dates? I've never kissed anybody before! What if I'm terrible at it? What if Ryoma-kun likes me now, but then after he kisses me and I'm a terrible kisser that he loses whatever interest he possibly has in me? Oh no!! This was a disaster waiting to happen. I mean, I wanted to spend time with him, I mean, wasn't this what I wanted?

"All right then, we can go to my room so I can shower and change and then we'll leave," Ryoma-kun said continuing to make his way through the large complex.

I continued to walk with him and glanced at my watch, knowing I had to check in with Grandma by calling her soon. Oh no! This was my chance to spend time with Ryoma-kun, but Grandma would never let me go to another tournament if I didn't call her as I promised to each day. What to do? What to do?

"What's the matter?" Ryoma-kun asked. He seemed to have picked-up on my nervous twitching.

"I'm supposed to call my Grandmother soon," I explained, hoping he would understand.

"You can call her while I shower," he answered.

"Oh no…long distance to Japan, Ryoma-kun, I couldn't," I found myself saying.

He stopped walking and stared at me.

"Why are you here?" he asked.

Oh…now why did he have to go and ask me that? I broke eye contact, feeling my face heat up.

"I-I, ano, I came to see you," I confessed.

"Why?"

"I had to."

"Why?"

I looked back into his probing eyes, wondering why he was grilling me, "Ryoma-kun."

He broke eye contact, and glared at the floor, his annoyance obvious.

"Sakuno-chan, you better not disappear again," he finally mumbled to me. He adjusted his baseball cap, and that's what set me off. Ryoma-kun was actually nervous too. He always messed with his hat when he was nervous. Wow…did that mean…?

Compelled, I reached out my hand to his shoulder, "Oh no! I'm going to be here all week, Ryoma-kun! I don't think I messed up the schedule this time because the time difference is only an hour here from Tokyo, so I won't have to leave early again like last time!"

He turned startled eyes to me, "You left last time because you mixed up the days in your schedule?"

Mortified that I'd spilled out my dirty secret I removed my hand and looked down, "Ah…yes. I'm not very good with these things."

"Mada mada dane, Sakuno-chan," he taunted as he let out an amused snicker. Why did he suddenly look so satisfied with himself? He took my hand in his and started pulling me alongside him out of the complex and across the street into a big hotel. He was holding my hand! My heart raced.

"Wait, Ryoma-kun, where are we going?" I asked, as I was being pulled into a lobby elevator. I was trying unsuccessfully to slow us down by dragging my feet, forcing him to pull me along behind him. This was maybe just a little too fast for me. I suddenly felt like prey, and Ryoma-kun was the hunter.

He stopped to look back at me again and gave me a glare.

"Okay, never mind," I conceded as he pulled me into the empty elevator. He was so stubborn sometimes, I just didn't know what else to do but give in. Grandma, I'll call you soon, I promise. I glanced at my watch again.

A few minutes later we found ourselves in a large suite close to the top floor of the hotel. Ryoma-kun threw his bag on the couch, and sat down, making quick work of his shoes and socks. Standing up again he started lifting his shirt over his head as he walked towards what I assumed to be the bathroom. He stopped as he reached the door and threw his shirt on the floor.

"The telephone is on the nightstand, make your call. I'll be out in a few minutes," he instructed before he closed the door behind him.

Ryoma-kun…is this for real?


	4. The Plan

**Never Forgotten**

A RyoSaku romance fanfic by Bunny

* * *

 

Chapter Four – The Plan

* * *

 

Never, in all my life had I showered so quickly. Sakuno…Sakuno…Sakuno. Her name was Sakuno and she was finally,  _finally_  here with me. The last six months had at times seemed like an eternity. When she hadn't cropped up at the US Open, I had been crushed. Did she not like me anymore because I had failed to win Wimbledon two years in a row? Was I just a big loser? Was my feeling of her genuine care for me misplaced? I didn't know. I didn't want to believe it, but that summed up how everybody else treated me, so I didn't know what to think. I made up excuses for her in my head. It cost too much, or she's too busy with school, or her parents wouldn't let her – and then I got really into it. She was in a coma, or she got hit by a car and died, or her plane back to Japan crashed. I didn't really want any of those latter things to be true, but I was kind-of angry and I wasn't always rational when I was angry. Who did that stupid girl think she was falling into my life like that-like an angel coming to rescue me and then vanishing? And then not showing up like she should have at her very next publicized all over the world opportunity when she could see me again?

After taking out my anger on each and every opponent at the US Open and winning it without contest, I calmed a bit and I realized that maybe I was being a little selfish. Not that I knew any better. Did the world NOT in fact, revolve around me? Apparently it did not - just most of the world, most of the time. Smirk. The evening of the closing of the US Open I had a long chat with Karupin. She patiently listened as I moaned and groaned my girl troubles. She meowed back to me and I realized that yes, I was being  _a bit_  self-centered. But…I was entitled a little, I mean - what if I never saw her again?

I couldn't believe it. I wouldn't believe it. I would see that stupid girl again.

So I hoped. I hoped that soon…that someday soon, she would reappear as quickly as she had disappeared and then from there, I formulated a plan.

Operation: Keep the long braided hair girl with the big brown eyes from disappearing again.

And then…just as planned, she appeared one day.

If I said I hadn't to a certain degree been expecting to see her here, I would be lying. In fact, I was pretty sure she would show up at my first match tomorrow morning, sitting somewhere in the spectator's stands. If something had kept her from the US Open and my assumptions about her living in Japan were accurate, getting to Australia shouldn't pose too big of a problem for her. I planned to arrive early for my matches and search through the stands for her in disguise. Once I found her, I would whisk her off to my hotel room and lock her here until my match was over. That way I could, at the very least extract a name and form of contact so if we should be separated again…I could find her.

So…I'll admit that I was actually a bit surprised when she appeared a day early. I was ready though, in fact this was even better. My plan would work out just perfectly and I wouldn't have matches getting in my way.

Getting her name out of her had been very easy. Getting her here to my room did prove a bit more difficult, but in the end my determination won out. Now, I just needed to shower as quickly as possible. That girl couldn't be let out of my sight – no matter what.

Only a few minutes had passed before I was making my way out of the shower. I didn't even bother to dry off, as I threw a towel around my waist and opened the bathroom door to check up on her.

She was sitting there on my bed, talking on the phone, but she looked up at the sound of the door opening. I watched as her cheeks instantly flushed red and she turned away from me.

Heh. So she was shy. I suppose I should take that to mean she wasn't used to seeing guys wearing nothing but a towel. Good.

I made my way over to my dresser to extract some clean clothes, all the while keeping my eyes focused on Sakuno's back. She was talking so quietly I could barely hear her.

"Yes."

"Yes Grandma."

"Okay, I will.'

"Really?"

"Tell Fuji-senpai, Kaidoh-senpai and Momo-senpai I won't miss the next match."

Who? I took a small step closer and stopped moving so I could hear better.

"Ah…well then tell Kawamura-senpai that I look forward to celebrating with him when I get home."

Twitch. Celebrating with  _him_?

"Oh…only a 10 percent chance? That's not very good."

What are they talking about?

"Did he say he would do it?"

Who? Do what?

"Yes."

"Yes, I'm very happy here. I'm having a good time."

Oh, well, now…okay, that kind-of makes me feel like there are butterflies in my stomach.

"Okay, I will call you tomorrow, bye."

She placed the phone back into the cradle and turned back towards me.

"EH!??!" she exclaimed.

"What?" I asked.

"Ryoma-kun still hasn't changed!" she sputtered and turned her back towards me again.

I hadn't realized that I was so busy trying to listen to her conversation that I'd been dripping water all over the floor and standing there with my clean clothes in my hands like a complete idiot. Baka!

I went back into the bathroom, quickly threw on my clothes and gave my hair a quick comb-through. Opening the door again, I met the most beautiful brown eyes I would never forget.

"Is Ryoma-kun finished now?" she questioned.

"Let's go," I said as I grabbed my wallet, my cell phone and my room key and slipped my shoes on.

Sakuno was right behind me. Wow, it felt so good to be able to spend time with her. I opened the door for her and watched as she slipped out quickly, looking embarrassed yet again.

"Everything okay back home?" I asked as we walked through the hallway to the elevator. What? How was I supposed to find out more about her without sounding like an obsessed stalker if I didn't ask casual questions? It was all part of  _the plan_.

Sakuno gave me a warm smile, her eyes lighting up in obvious delight as we entered the elevator.

"Yes! The boys are doing really well and Fuji-senpai promised to give me private lessons when I get back!" she said, her enthusiasm quite apparent.

"'The boys?'" I asked, completely confused about who she was referring to, and being instantly jealous of whoever these males were that made her face light up like that.

"Ano…sorry Ryoma-kun, you don't even know," she paused to laugh in obvious embarrassment. "My Grandmother is the coach for the boys' tennis team at my school," she explained.

"Ah," I see. So she's constantly surrounded by  _male_  tennis players  _our age_. Great - more competition. Add to list of things to do: visit Sakuno's school and pound into these guys that  _I_  was the only tennis player Sakuno had eyes for. I'd defeat them all and make sure she kept her eyes only on me. "Are they good?" I found myself asking. No, no, no, I don't  _really_ want to talk about other guys in your life. Guys that get to see you every day if they want to.

"Oh yes, they're the best – on their way to the Nationals right now actually. I'm so proud. Grandma says they're the best team she's ever had. I wouldn't really know, but they do keep on winning, so they must be good, right?" she asked as the elevator dinged our arrival on the bottom floor and we exited into the lobby.

"Hn."

"They aren't as good as Ryoma-kun though," she added as we walked towards the hotel entrance.

I felt my heart speed up at her indirect praise. I don't know why I cared, I just did. Sakuno, God…the things you do to me. When you aren't around, when you are around; you make me completely lose all normal sense of thinking.

"Yes, Ryoma-kun would point his racquet and say, 'mada mada dane,'" she teased doing a pretty good imitation of my face and posture, even pretending to be holding a racquet out in front of her.

Well, well, well, maybe I don't need to go pound those guys after all. It looks like Sakuno already knows – nobody beats me at tennis.

I gave her a smirk as we hit the sidewalk outside of the hotel and took the hand she had just been using for her imitation. I steered her down the street towards the Japanese restaurant on the corner I had noticed when we had arrived yesterday driving from the airport to the hotel. I'd taken one look at the place and decided it would be the perfect place to take her. She would be familiar with the food, most of those there for the tournament would probably favor other restaurants in the area, so we'd have privacy – and I would be able to take her out on a date. However I was able to get her to go out with me, that is.

Entering the restaurant we were seated right away at a private table towards the back. Picking up the menu I quickly decided what to order and then realized that Sakuno might not be able to order if her English was still as bad as it had been at Wimbledon. I set the menu down and looked at her.

She had the menu laid flat on the surface of the table and her eyes were frantically scanning over it.

"Do you know what you want?" I asked.

She gave me a startled look.

"Ano…"

"Sakuno-chan your English is not very good, right?" I asked.

She frowned at me, "I have trouble with the language."

"Do you want me to order for you?" I asked.

"Ryoma-kun! This is a Japanese restaurant; they should be able to understand me!" she exclaimed.

"Hn." I must have embarrassed her again. Fine, be that way. We'll just ignore the fact that despite being a Japanese restaurant that most of the menu is in English.

A minute later, our waitress came and took our orders. Sakuno somehow fumbled through a guessing game of what was available and with our orders placed and our menus taken away I was suddenly confronted with a dilemma.

Now what?

Sakuno was looking at me expectantly, but I didn't know what to say. Sure, I had a lot of questions for her, I had a lot of assumptions I'd already made about her too, but I didn't want her to realize how much time I'd spent thinking about her either.

"A-ano…Ryoma-kun?" Sakuno finally broke the awkward silence.

What?

"Thanks for bringing me here, this is really nice," she said.

I smiled at her. It was completely involuntary, she was too cute.

"So, Sakuno-chan, you mentioned you live in Tokyo?" I asked now that the ice was broken.

She smiled back at me.

"Yes, I do," she said.

"So what's it like there? Do you like it?" I asked her.

"Well, yes, it's very pretty. It was snowing when I left, so it's weird being here where it's summer. And Tokyo is really busy, yes, it's very busy there. There are a lot of people and a lot of things to do, so I stay busy most of the time," she told me.

Hmmm…still haven't really learned much.

"My family owns a temple in Tokyo, but I've never been there," I offered.

Let's see what you do with that Sakuno. I was not disappointed.

Her eyes lit up, "Oh, Ryoma-kun you should definitely come and visit!"

Smirk. Now we're talking.

"I don't know anybody there," I began, but she cut me off.

"Ryoma-kun, you won't be lonely in Tokyo," she said.

"What?" Her statement gave me complete pause. I think my synapses actually shut down for a few moments.

"You don't have to be lonely anymore, Ryoma-kun," she said, her voice lowering from cheerful chatter to all seriousness. She gave me an intense stare. I'd never seen someone look so seriously at me saying something so kindly, as if they understood me on a different plain of existence. How did she know? I'd never been so caught off-guard in my life. Well, maybe with the exception of our last meeting when my eye was bleeding and there was a Japanese girl hauling me off the court at Wimbledon. I stared into her eyes for a moment. Sakuno…

My eyes caught slight movement and I watched her small hand reach across the table and softly touch the top of mine, "Ryoma-kun will always have me."

I turned my hand over and grasped her smaller hand in my own, "Sakuno," I breathed out in awe and disbelief.

She gave me that same smile she'd given me at Wimbledon and it nearly stopped my heart.

Vvvvvffffffttttt. Vvvvvffffffttttt. Vvvvvffffffttttt.

Vvvvvffffffttttt. Vvvvvffffffttttt. Vvvvvffffffttttt.

What the hell? Why is my cell phone vibrating NOW of all times?

"Sorry," I murmured to Sakuno giving her an apologetic look as I reached in my pocket and flipped open the phone. Normally, I wouldn't have taken the call, but during a tournament it was mandatory that I keep my phone with me and answer it. I silently cursed advanced technology in my head.

"Hn," I said into the phone.

"Ryoma! Where are you right now?" It was my mother, and she sounded rather frantic.

"The Japanese restaurant down on the corner," I answered.

"Are you with that girl from Wimbledon?" she asked.

What? What. The. Hell. How would she even...? Realization suddenly dawned on me. My stupid old man couldn't keep his mouth shut to save his life. Damn…

"Uh, yeah," I answered. What? What was I supposed to say?

"You need to get out of there RIGHT NOW, the both of you. There is a hoard of reporters waiting outside, Ryoma. The whole world is waiting to see the Prince of Tennis with The Japanese Girl that Saved Him," she informed me. The way she said it even sounded like a tabloid headline.

I held my tongue from letting out a list of choice expletives as I locked eyes with Sakuno who was looking across the table from me with curious concern.

"Okay, thanks Mom," I said and flipped the phone closed. I held back a growl of utter frustration.

"The press is outside," I said.

Her eyes looked startled for a moment, and then sadly resigned.

"I'm sorry for causing you problems again Ryoma-kun," she said dejectedly.

"It's not your fault, but we need to get out of here if we don't want to be the scandal of tomorrow," I explained.

She looked crushed for a moment before she dropped her face down to look at the table.

"I see. Okay Ryoma-kun can stay and I'll leave right now, that should be okay, right?" she said to the table.

"Hey, can't you look at me when you talk to me?" I said, slightly irritated at her sudden mood swing.

She slowly looked up at a slight angle.

"What's wrong?" I asked.

"Nothing, I should go," she said as she stood from the table and began walking away. Damn, she was kind-of fast.

"Wait a minute!" I exclaimed to her retreating back. I stood up to follow her, only to be stopped by the windows surrounding the front of the restaurant giving me a good view of just how many reporters were outside. Completely defeated, I watched as Sakuno disappeared on me into the crowd of waiting reporters. That…was definitely  _not_  part of the plan. Tomorrow I was going to hunt that girl down out in the stadiums, how dare she just leave like that? What the hell?


	5. The Webs We Weave

**Never Forgotten**

A RyoSaku romance fanfic by Bunny

* * *

Chapter Five – The Webs We Weave

* * *

 

I didn't cry on my way home from the Australian Open. Nope, I did not shed one tear. Why? Because I cried  _during_ the Australian Open. I cried the whole week I was in Australia and by the time I was boarding the plane to fly back home, I was all cried out. I may have even been slightly dehydrated; I really was not feeling well at all. There was this sick nauseous feeling in my stomach that wouldn't quit.

Ryoma-kun…why?

He had rejected me. It was all fun and games when it was just the two of us - teasing me by walking around in nothing but a towel dripping wet, taking me out on a date, telling me not to disappear on him. But as soon as the idea of it going public came up – I was dismissed.

I had thought that maybe we were actually getting somewhere. Our "date" had been going so well, we were talking and getting along, getting to know each other. He'd smiled so sweetly at me, like I was his most important person, just like he was mine. He'd even called me Sakuno – just Sakuno – oh, how I thought I was going to die of utter bliss. Then thud. Reality came up to bear its ugly, mangy head at me and I was thrown to the dogs.

Surely, Ryoma-kun had to know that if he did decide to date anybody that it would be very public. I had resigned myself to living a life in the limelight with him, if he'd have me of course. I thought maybe he would because we were connected, but really? I should have known better. It was one sided. I'm just some stupid girl that didn't even know better than to stay off the tennis court during a match. I couldn't play tennis well myself, I had no talents to speak of or beauty that would allow me to stand out. I was really, when all was said and done, completely unsuitable for him. That's what all the girls at school loved to drill into my head. I'd never really paid them any mind before, but maybe they were right after all.

I couldn't see him any more. That's all there was too it. I would continue to watch his matches and support him, but not visibly. I just couldn't do it. God…I  _loved_  him. It wouldn't and couldn't work though, so I resigned myself to a lonely and/or miserable, unhappy existence. Or perhaps I could be stupid enough to get myself stuck in a bad relationship with a loser. A loser just like me…a loser – that's what I was, a loser.

Speaking of losing, or rather winning, I had no idea how Ryoma-kun did at the tournament. I hadn't the heart to go to the matches or to watch them on the television in my hotel room. I hope he won, because that was the most important thing to him – winning at tennis.

I arrived back home, and fell quickly back into my usual routine. Adding in of course my private tennis lessons with Fuji-senpai – why I bothered? I don't know. I suppose keeping with my plan was just easier than backing out. Explaining why I didn't want to learn tennis better anymore would be more troublesome than just doing the practices with Fuji-senpai. So that's what I did, I practiced.

Fuji-senpai was amazing. People liked to call him a tennis genius and he was. He didn't shine the way Ryoma-kun did, but he had his own style that was a pleasure to watch and learn. Comparing anybody with Ryoma-kun wasn't really fair though – nobody had his personality, that special something in him that drew me to him over and over and over again.

Surprisingly enough though, I actually improved by learning from Fuji-senpai. He was a good teacher - perceptive enough to read my thoughts and tell me exactly what I needed to hear at the right time. He was patient with me and he never made me feel awkward or clumsy, which helped a lot. I made progress, and it felt really good. I even ended up making the starting team and playing in a few matches – I even won most of them. I was still no tennis star, but I was able to hold my own on the court for the most part. It…helped…a little. My self-esteem had been pretty much blown out of the water and I was depressed. Making progress at tennis was the only positive thing in my life, so I cherished it.

Sometime during those months between the Australian Open and Wimbledon, I faced a dilemma from a private invitation I received in the mail. I was so busy with work, school, tennis and forgetting about what happened in Australia that it had almost slipped my notice.

The invitation perplexed me when I received it and took a minute to open it up and read it. What was this? Ryoma-kun was going to be in Tokyo for a private exhibition game just for the fans – or so it said. Tickets had to be purchased in advance through mail, and under the pseudonym "George Canasta." Who? Where did he come up with this stuff? I seriously wondered. It was such a weird name. I also didn't know how  _I_  got one of the invitations. It said it was for fan club members, but I wasn't in The Official Echizen Ryoma Fan Club. It was doubly weird. After much thought, I figured maybe it was because Tomo-chan made me write a fan letter with her after Wimbledon and we'd mailed along a tennis ball as a present. I'd drawn his face on one side of the ball and "Number One" on the other side. Maybe I'd been auto-added to the Fan Club mailing list? Why would they do that though? As far as I knew The Official Echizen Ryoma Fan Club was a paid membership. Strange, I should have probably given it more thought, but I was busy and hurt.

The first time I saw it wasn't long after I'd returned home from Australia and taking note of the deadline, I had put it aside to work through my Ryoma-kun issues later. I wasn't ready to deal with the possibility of seeing him again so soon.

I almost even forgot about it. Let's be honest though, I could never forget about Ryoma-kun. The truth is, I still ate, slept and breathed him. Last minute, I decided that I wanted to go to the exhibition. I know, I know, I said I wouldn't see Ryoma-kun anymore. What can I say besides that there was a compelling urgent voice inside of me that was telling me that I needed to go? I would stay in the back, out of sight, I just really wanted to go and see him, but I wouldn't go alone. There was no way I could even risk seeing Ryoma-kun alone. So, I showed the invitation to Fuji-senpai at our next practice and asked him if he wanted to go with me.

"An exhibition match?" Fuji-senpai asked as he refolded the invitation and handed it back to me.

"Yes, I thought…maybe you would want to go with me?" I asked.

Fuji-senpai got that evil gleam in his eyes that he got sometimes. Goodness, he even opened them slightly, he sure was serious. If I wasn't used to him from our lessons, I'd probably be running away right now. That's when he threw the bomb on my head, "Sakuno-san, are you asking me out on a date?"

" _What_?" Oh my, it was out of my mouth before I even thought about it. You could actually hear the surprised horror in my voice. That was so rude of me! Fuji-senpai is going to think I don't like him at all. Oh no! Why would he say that? Well…I guess,  _technically_ I was asking Fuji-senpai out on a date, but I wasn't thinking about it  _that way_. I was thinking about Ryoma-kun. So Fuji-senpai's completely valid question actually threw me off. We were friends, kind-of…weren't we? I mean, we spent a lot of time together and I thought he would understand this was a tennis thing.

He took a step forward, closing the distance between us and whispered into my ear, "Are you sure you want to go out with me?" I could feel his hot breath blowing across my neck and my face flushing. Shocked disbelief froze me in place. Fuji-senpai! I was so scandalized. What, why, how…Fuji-senpai?

I looked at the profile of his face in my peripheral vision and wondered what he was up to. Okay, so he was a good looking guy and this would excite any normal girl. I was even slightly affected, but the truth is, I only had eyes for Ryoma-kun – even if I had been rejected. That's right, I was a loser girl that guys like Fuji-senpai had no interest in, so what was he up to? Fuji-senpai definitely had a strange, twisted side to him and he was two years my senior, so really, there was no telling. Well! Sakuno, you're sixteen years old! If you don't learn how to deal with men now, it's never going to happen. I don't know where that pep talk came from, or how I got the crazy notion in my head that this would be a good time to call out Fuji-senpai on his conniving ways. I don't know what I was thinking when I asked in a low voice, "Are you playing with me,  _Syusuke-kun_?"

I think I surprised him, because I saw his eyes widen for a brief second, but he hid it well and my vision was limited to peripheral, so I wasn't really sure. He took a step back though and putting his right hand around the side of my face said, "Not at all. I'd love to go out with you Sakuno- _chan_."

"All right then, I'll get the tickets," I said as I felt my face flushing and took a step back, away from his hand. The conversation was dropped. I thought he'd got the message and figured that playing with me like that wasn't going to fly. Oh, I had another thing coming to me.

The whole thing turned into a big mess. I'd set aside the invitation after that, making a note to handle it and had promptly become too wrapped up in my life that I forgot to send for the tickets. It was all Fuji-senpai's fault. After the little stunt he'd pulled on me when I asked him and my impulse to get him back by playing along he'd gone around announcing to everybody that would listen that we were  _dating_.

Like, really dating. As in, I suddenly found myself with a boyfriend. A boyfriend I didn't want, nor had I ever wanted, and if I was honest, I was slightly afraid of because he was a twisted sort of guy. Ryoma-kun, save me! In my dreams, I know. Ryoma-kun didn't want me, and I didn't think Fuji-senpai did either. I honestly thought that he was just playing it up for a laugh, to get a reaction out of people. I knew him well enough to know that he was that kind of a guy. Although, in his defense he hadn't dated any girls since I'd first met him three years ago when he was a senior at our Jr. High School. I didn't really know what to do or say, so I just kind-of went along with it. It was okay if people thought we were dating. Or rather, I didn't really care. It wasn't like Ryoma-kun wanted me anyways, right? Well…as long as he didn't start kissing me or something. That would definitely not be okay! I was saving that for Ryoma-kun. Maybe I would never be kissed - I realized with disappointment. Ryoma-kun didn't want me, but I didn't want anybody else. I moped for about a week when I realized that.

Still though, it was really hard to tell what Fuji-senpai was really thinking pretty much ever. He was a real walking contradiction. I suppose that's what all the other girls liked him for. He was very popular with the girls at our school. Of course, that did nothing but cause further problems for me. 'First Ryoma-sama and now Fuji-sama, you really think you're something special don't you Ryuzaki-san?' The number of times I heard that comment, and/or variations thereof, I lost count of. I wanted to scream at them that they could have their Fuji- _sama_  because I didn't want anybody but Ryoma-kun anyways, but I wasn't the type of girl that said those kinds of things. Doesn't mean I don't think them, but I don't say most of the things I think. And well…I didn't want to embarrass Fuji-senpai by denying it. I was in a real dilemma, that's what!

If I said this new development didn't stress me out, it would be the biggest, fattest lie I ever told. That would be saying something too, because one time I made up this big elaborate story about not stealing cookies off of the cookie sheet while they were cooling when there had been chocolate smeared all over my face. Yeah, it was kind-of like that.

Fuji-senpai didn't really treat me much differently, but he certainly did crop up out of nowhere often. Especially when he first announced that we were dating and everyone was so bent on observing us together and talking about it…much to my embarrassment. I would be able to hear the chatter about it in the background. It made me crazy; I've never liked a lot of attention. It started out with walking me home from school and then progressed into I'd be walking down the hallway and bump into him.

"Sakuno- _chan_ , how was your lunch?" I swear he had a sick obsession with calling me Sakuno-chan. He always said it just like that; like he was taunting me. It made me unbearably nervous. I would stutter, blush and twitch.

"A-ano…it was nice."

"The cherry trees will be blooming soon."

"Uhm…yes, you're right."

Can't tell you how many times he brought up the cherry trees to me. It took a little over two weeks before I figured out what he was on about. Then one day as we were walking home, it hit me - of course! In the spring, Fuji-senpai, Kikumaru-senpai, Kawamura-senpai, Inui-senpai, Tezuka-senpai and Oishi-senpai would all be graduating and leaving school for college or to start working at their jobs. Kawamura-senpai had been working more and more at Kawamura Sushi since finishing Jr. High, but now he would be working there full time. Tezuka-senpai was scheduled to enter the competitive tennis circuit that Ryoma-kun was in, and Inui-senpai was going to be his coach and manager. Kikumaru-senpai and Oishi-senpai were both planning to attend Tokyo University, but now that I was thinking about it, I didn't know what Fuji-senpai's plans were.

"S-Syusuke-kun, ah…ano…what are you going to do after you graduate?" Yes, of course I asked him first thing. What's the point of waiting? I would just worry over it and worry over it. Admittedly, I'm a worry-wart. Though, honestly, I was a little bit happy that he wouldn't be at school with me anymore. The embarrassment and rumors would hopefully stop at that. I also wouldn't have to deal with him popping up out of nowhere and hearing fellow students talking about us behind my back. Why did I suddenly feel like I was leading him on?

I watched him smirk knowingly at the path ahead of us, I could tell he was putting it together that I'd finally figured out his blooming cherry trees fixation he'd been sharing with me for the past two weeks. Par for the course though, he threw a bomb on my head instead.

"Sakuno-chan, how could you forget? Our first date is coming up – the exhibition game with Echizen Ryoma," he mentioned to me calmly.

I was instantly hit with shock and horror. I stopped walking abruptly. My shoulders slumped forward, and my bag made a dull thud sound as it slid off my shoulder and hit the pavement. I FORGOT TO BUY THE TICKETS. Oh no, oh no, oh no, oh no, oh no!

Fuji-senpai stopped immediately. "Sakuno? What's wrong?"

Wow, he was being serious for once, not singing out Sakuno _–chan_  to me.

"I forgot to get the tickets!" I exclaimed as I crouched down to start digging frantically through my bag for the invitation I'd casually tossed in there weeks ago. NO!!!! Nononononononononono! Don't tell me all _this_  was for nothing. Don't tell me that I won't get to see Ryoma-kun when he's here in Tokyo because I was such an airhead that I forgot to get the tickets!

He walked over to me and squatting down beside me he started picking up my bag off the ground. I followed the bag, rising with it as I still frantically moved loose papers, wrappers, trash, supplies, books, folders and all the other junk that had collected in my bag the last few weeks. I had to find that invitation, maybe it wasn't too late. Maybe I could still get us tickets. How could I forget? Everything wrong in my life the past few weeks all started with that invitation, how could getting the tickets have ever slipped past my mind?

"Let's get you home and you can look through your bag there, okay?" Fuji-senpai said calmly before taking my hand and leading me to my house.

"Syusuke-kun, I really wanted to go!" I whined as he dragged me behind him.

"I know," he acknowledged.

"It was a special match!" I added. Goodness, I was so upset I was babbling.

"I know, I read the invitation too," he said.

"If I missed this, I'm never going to forgive myself," I pouted.

"Yes, I can see that. Okay, here we are – home sweet home. Now go tear your bag apart Sakuno-chan and see if we can go see your dear Ryoma-kun play here in Tokyo," he said, giving my lower back a small push towards my front door and handing my book bag back to me in one swift motion.

Did he just say? I halted and spun back towards Fuji-senpai, my bag swinging around wildly in my path, "Syusuke-kun! You knew?"

His eyes were open and he was staring at me intensely. I almost shivered. I can't tell you if it was because he looked so good when he opened his eyes or if it was because I was scared of his serious looks. It was probably a little bit of both actually. I also suddenly got this ominous feeling, this whole conversation was getting way too weird.

"I had my suspicions," he said slowly, and calmly.

I opened my mouth to continue to ask questions, but he put a finger over it, stopping me instantly.

"After asking me, you didn't mention it again. I wasn't sure why that was, so I tried to bring it up, but you didn't understand. I didn't want to say it directly and get you thinking about him again – something happened to you in Australia, didn't it?" he asked, taking his finger off of my mouth.

"Y-Yes," I confessed and left it at that.

He didn't seem to need to know more, he just nodded. "I thought maybe you had changed your mind and didn't want to go with me after all, but you didn't talk about it, so I waited for you to bring it up. I would be lying if I said I wasn't pleasantly surprised when you asked me about graduation. I suppose I should hold it as a small victory that you were thinking enough about me these past few weeks that the first thing that came to mind was something about me and not him," he explained.

I couldn't believe my ears. "Syusuke-kun, what are you saying?" I asked in complete disbelief.

Suddenly, he was back to usual Fuji-senpai, a smile on his face, his eyes smiling in the closed manner they always did, "I like you, Sakuno-chan."

Gobsmacked. That's the word. I was completely and utterly gobsmacked. Fuji-senpai liked  _me_? Why? Why?  _Why_? Yes, the very idea was horrifying. Not because Fuji-senpai was ugly or because I didn't like him, but because I didn't want to hurt his feelings by rejecting him. There was no way I could really date him.  _No way_. All this time, I thought he was just joking around and I was playing along kind-of, all I really did was not deny it, but if this was for real? Oh no. Nononononononono!

"That's why I said I would work with you on your tennis and why I said I would go out with you," he added, his somewhat playful demeanor back in full-swing. He said it like he wasn't saying anything important - all nonchalant, as if we talk about this stuff everyday. I just wanted to fall over and die or run away, yes running away sounded like a good idea.

"Syusuke-kun this is  _not_ funny!" I finally exploded at him when I found my voice.

He stopped smiling and gave me that intense look with open eyes again. "I told you I wasn't joking that first day, and I meant it. I saw the look you gave him at Wimbledon. That loving, shining look you gave to Echizen Ryoma when you bandaged up his eye and I wanted that look to be directed at me. Sakuno, I've never been more serious about anything," he finished.

Confused beyond all reason, I looked down at the ground, wishing it could give me the words and answers I so desperately needed. All that was left now was being painfully honest with him. After all, he'd told me everything, the least I could do was be straight forward with him back. We were friends if nothing else, he deserved that much. I looked back up at him and gave him a weak, watery smile.

"I like you Syusuke-kun, but I'm in love with-"

"Echizen," he said cutting me off. "I know."

"Okay," I said, not knowing what else to say at that point.

"I don't care," he said.

"But Syusuke-kun-"

"It didn't go so well for you with Echizen, did it?" he asked.

Well, he wasn't being so nice about my poor broken heart, now was he? Why wasn't I surprised? I looked away from him, at our neighbor's front yard and said, "No."

"I'm sorry for brining it up, but when you came home looking so sad, and not talking about the tournament at all, I knew something must have happened," he said.

"Well, you're not called a genius for nothing, are you Fuji-senpai?" I almost spit it out at him. I was so hurt and angry suddenly, I just wanted to go dig a hole in the backyard, bury myself and let the world carry on without me.

"Look at me," he said.

No.

"Look at me, Sakuno," he said gently.

No, I don't want to.

"Sakuno, please look at me," he pleaded.

I slowly turned my head and looked at him.

He pulled me towards him and enveloped me in his long strong arms. "Sakuno, I hope you will let me stay with you and as long as you do, I will protect you and you won't have to be lonely or sad or feel rejected," he whispered.

Why did he have to be so sweet? This was completely messing with my emotions. I started crying, "Syusuke-kun, this isn't fair!"

He patted the back of my head with one of his hands, "I know. It's probably not really fair to any of us."

* * *

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay – just so we're all clear, Sakuno isn't dating Fuji! (Everybody just thinks they are dating because Fuji is saying they are, but Sakuno and Fuji don't have an understanding that they're really together.) He likes her and she likes Ryoma.
> 
> Sakuno thinks that Ryoma doesn't really like her, so she's completely depressed. She felt a connection to him before she even met him, which is why she pursued meeting him.
> 
> Fuji saw the devotion Sakuno gave Ryoma and admired it so much he decided to pursue her. This is why he started giving her private tennis lessons. Fuji and Sakuno are spending a lot of time together so they're pretty good friends by the time all this drama goes down, so Sakuno is upset that she doesn't like him. It would make her life easier, since Ryoma doesn't want her (in her head.)
> 
> Ryoma isn't really being a stalker, but he's drawn to Sakuno for the same reasons she's drawn to him. They both feel a pull to each other. He decides to pursue her because he notices in her that she genuinely likes him as just a regular guy, not as a famous tennis star. He likes the attention that she likes to watch him play, but he's really into her because she's the first person he's met that just likes him (in his head.) And well she's a challenge because she never sticks around long enough for him to be satisfied.
> 
> I'm not going to turn this into a "dragging it out super drama love triangle" fanfic. Like I said before, there are eight chapters to this fanfic total and while I'm editing them for about the 20th time before I post each one up, the story is completed and I'm not going to throw a ton of twists into it. Everything that happens is for a reason, though you might not get it completely until the end.


	6. Stupid Girl

**Never Forgotten**

A RyoSaku romance fanfic by Bunny

* * *

Chapter Six – Stupid Girl

* * *

 

She didn't come. She didn't come. She didn't come. She didn't come.  _She didn't come._

That stupid,  _stupid_  girl.

She'd gone and disappeared on me again. What. The. Hell. Next time I saw her I was going to get chains and ropes and tie her up so she couldn't run away from me again. She was so quick to just  _run off_ , it was irritating.

" _Oh no – Ryoma-kun, I'm going to be here for a week this time!"_  So she says. But does she make another appearance all week? No. Did I get anything that would allow me to contact her? NO! That stupid girl had even used a calling card to dial out of my room, making the whole telephone record a mess of indecipherable numbers that led me nowhere except to a used calling card message that would prompt me to deposit more money in my account and then I could place another call.

GRAGH! I'd never been so frustrated in my life. Not even by my stupid old man and my stupider older brother when they were teaming up against me.

What could have possibly happened to her? She'd left the restaurant in a rush and then nothing. The last I'd seen of her was about a 10 second airtime on the T.V. in my hotel room of her telling the reporters that she didn't speak English. After confessing to me that she was mine, the stupid girl had run off on me again. I'd been so pleasantly shocked when she'd told me how she felt – I didn't even get the chance to tell her...well…whatever I would tell her. I didn't really know what to say, but I'd take it. If she wanted to be mine, then good, that's exactly what I wanted. I wasn't really expecting her to get so serious and say such a thing, but I suppose time was of the essence when you were a disappearing artist. That stupid,  _stupid_ girl! Damnit! Why did she have to leave me again?

There was no sign of her presence at the Australian Open AT ALL. I would know. I looked all over for that silly girl all week long, just waiting for her to reappear suddenly somewhere. I disguised myself and mingled about in the crowds between matches and walked down long since forgotten pathways, looking for her relentlessly, and nothing. NOTHING. The reporters had given up too, even retracting that she was actually the same girl that had bandaged my eye at Wimbledon. Obviously, if she'd been there, she'd be spotted with me again – or so they said – heh…if they only knew.

Sakuno, you are so going to get it the next time I see you, so help me you are going to get it! Damn straight I was angry. Don't tell me that I'll always have you and then vanish on me. There was something so wrong with that whole equation. Every time I thought about it, I got pissed off. She had melted my heart, ripped it out of my chest and then squished it into nothing while it was all melted. That stupid girl!

I was just going to have to chase her down myself.

I had a few months before Wimbledon and I was going to put that time to good use. Besides practicing for the tournament that lived to smack me in the face each year by something preventing me from winning, I was going to take the time to hunt down Sakuno. And when I found that girl, she was never going to be let out of my sight again. I would tie her up to the bench during matches and handcuff her to me the rest of the time. Okay, so maybe I was going a little overboard with all my thoughts of tying her up and chaining her to me, but she'd promised me she wouldn't disappear and then she had.

Then on the other hand, there were the very scary possibilities. She'd been killed by some random murderer, her plane had crashed, her Grandmother had died and she'd been rushed home. The possibilities down that road were endless and painful, so I usually just focused on two things.

First, that she was a  _stupid_  girl.

And second that I was going to find  _my stupid girl_  and make sure she didn't leave me again.

I didn't really know how to go about tracking down a girl in Japan though. Honestly, I'd never even been to the country, let alone Tokyo, not like that was going to stop me. I just needed to think about it.

The idea of doing an exhibition match in Tokyo had actually come from my old man of all people, and why he decided on Tokyo, I didn't take the time to explore. Just the surfacing idea that he thought I would find Sakuno in Tokyo set off all kinds of warning alarms within me about his nosey ways and his obsessions with cute, young girls. Ugh, he makes me sick.

The set up though, was prefect. We made it a secret fans-only event under a fictitious name. Tickets had to be purchased by mail in advance – which meant that this way the event could stay really small and oh yeah – no reporters. Meaning, I wouldn't miss her if she was there, no matter what and that there would be no press to get in the way of us spending time together. It was actually a rather brilliant plan all around. I was kind-of impressed. The only hitch in it was that she'd have to be a fan club member. I just hoped that she was.

We arrived in Tokyo in the spring as the famous cherry trees were blooming and I fell in love with the city at first sight. It was beautiful, clean and the best part was everybody spoke Japanese. I had personally always preferred it to English, and thankfully we spoke it in our home, but being in a whole city, or rather a whole country like this? I liked it. I liked it a lot.

Our family really did own a big temple in Tokyo and after arriving at the airport we went there so I could explore the family properly. It was awesome! We had our own tennis court there. Why didn't we live here? I mean sure we had a community tennis court at our place in New York, but it wasn't a private court for just us. The temple was really big with lots of clean spacious rooms in the classic Japanese style. I took to it like I took to tennis. Oh Japan, where have you been all my life?

Sakuno and I must have been meant to be I concluded. All the signs pointed to her - from how we met, to how she affected my brain, to how I thought about the stupid girl more often than I had the time too, right down to where she lived. I would be more than happy living here with her in our big temple eating Japanese food everyday. I imagined her wearing an apron, cooking breakfast in the morning before sending me off to practice. Very nice, yes, indeed I think I can live with that. I hope she's a good cook. Now I just needed to track the stupid girl down and make it happen - it should be easy enough once I got her to stop disappearing on me. She had promised me that I wouldn't be lonely anymore and that I'd always have her hadn't she? We were practically engaged after a statement like that. Well…unless she meant it as just friends. No, nonononono…she'd said it while holding my hand. The stupid girl had to like me! And if she didn't? Well, so what? I'd just make her like me.

By the day of the exhibition I was filled with anxiety. I hadn't run into her yet, though I'd looked all over town…and all of my hopes were riding on her showing up today. For the past two weeks, I'd been out exploring the city. I'd found the local tennis courts nearby, the local burger joints, and briefly passed by a few of the schools. I had to be really careful not to be noticed though. Ever since Sakuno's stunt at Wimbledon I'd been much more popular in Japan as a tennis star. You know what that is? It's a real pain the ass, that's what. I just wanted to play tennis, and beat everybody of course. I really wasn't interested in all this silly fame and fortune stuff that came with being a good tennis player. I just liked the game.

After two weeks of searching around, I still hadn't run into Sakuno though. What did that girl do after school? Did she not live in this part of the city? Maybe after the match I could go to the schools each day and try to find a girl's tennis team. She'd mentioned getting private lessons, so she seemed to have enough of an interest in the sport. She probably stayed at her school until evening - that should be easy enough. I wondered if she was any good at playing. Obviously, she wasn't on my level or she'd be more than a spectator at the tournaments. She was always wearing cute little tennis outfits when I saw her though. She was kind-of wobbly though – I laughed at the image of her wobbling around after the ball. Definitely need to play with her next time I see her and see.

The match came and went, but still no Sakuno. She didn't come. She didn't come. She didn't come. She didn't come.  _She didn't come_. I was pretty distracted the whole time since I kept looking for her. I just kept expecting her to appear out of nowhere, but she never did. I barely won, which was really rather silly since I should have been able to beat that guy easily. The crowd loved it, I hated it and it was all Sakuno's fault!

I had one week left before we had to get back to the US for some official exhibitions. After that I would be packed up and hauled off to Wimbledon again, for the third year in a row. I was going to win this time, no matter what! Anyways, I didn't have much time left in Japan. So the day after my match, I started on my new idea of how to track her down. I looked up a list of the schools in the area and from there I made my list of schools I would stake out the next five days: Fudomine, Gyokurin, St. Rudolph Gakuen, Hyotei and finally on a whim Seishun Academy.

The last one was better known to me as Seigaku, where my old man had gone to school. He used to tell me stories about his studies there and once we arrived, it was one of the first places he took me to see. I hadn't really been able to check it out thoroughly, but something told me to not pass up the chance to spend more time there, even if it was unlikely that Sakuno would be there, I had to go. It was as if there was this force compelling me to go. So I went.

All week, I went to each school. I wore a typical boy's Japanese school uniform so I would look like a visiting student from another school. I also wore sunglasses and a hat. Nobody would ever recognize me like this. All my fans ever saw me in were my tennis clothes and my white baseball cap with my racquet in one hand. I found plenty of tennis teams and enjoyed watching them play – wishing I could get on the courts and pound them, but none of the schools turned up any trace of Sakuno anywhere.

Finally, on Friday the last day I found myself at Seigaku. I had already sort-of written the day off as a fun day for me to learn more about how school life had been like for my old man, but Seigaku turned out to be oh, so much more.

Like I had experienced at the other schools, it wasn't long after the final bells signaling the end of school for the day that I heard the familiar thwack of tennis balls being hit on the courts. I made my way slowly into the school and stopped for a few minutes at the boy's courts to watch the guys play. There were a couple of players that really stood out to me. Once again, I'd wished I'd brought my racquet and a change of clothes with me so I could play too, but then I'd be exposed and that could only cause problems. I really wasn't in the mood for that. Well…I'd go check out the girls and if Sakuno wasn't there, maybe I'd come back here and watch the boys play for a while before giving up for now on my Sakuno hunt.

Giving up for now - the whole thought really bummed me out. I was in Tokyo. I was so close to Sakuno, I could almost smell her. Why couldn't I just stay here and continue to visit the schools until I found that silly girl? How long could it really take?

Arriving at the chain link fence surrounding the other courts, I was really surprised to see two long brown braids bouncing around on the court. Was it really Sakuno? I couldn't believe it could be so easy. All this time…was she right under my nose? The girl was playing a friendly match against another girl on the team, and Sakuno- well, if it was indeed Sakuno, was doing quite well. Wow…I never would have thought she would be so good! I'd imagined her as a wobbly awkward player on the courts, but she was sure footed, and her returns seemed to be going exactly where she wanted them to be going. I felt a satisfied sense of pride welling up within me as I walked around the court so I would be standing across from her. From this angle, I would be able to see her face better. It only took one good look her face and I quickly confirmed that this girl was indeed my Sakuno.

I found her! My heart raced in anticipation. Unable to control myself, I called to her, "Sakuno!" as she did a jump smash to end the point.

Landing back on the ground she looked around to see who had called to her. Her eyes finally landed on me and she made a completely blank face. Then pointing at herself she called back, "Me?"

Why the blank face? Didn't she recognize me? Wait…I'm wearing all this stuff. I quickly took off my sunglasses and the hat I was wearing and called out again, "Come over here and say hello to me _you stupid girl!"_

By now, the whole team was watching the two of us yelling to each other and they all watched Sakuno's racquet flip out of her grip and bonk on the ground. "R-ryoma-kun?"

The disbelief in her voice was apparent. Oh well, I guess she wasn't in the fan club and didn't get my invitation after all. I guess that's a good thing because I think I would have to be angry with her for not coming after all that trouble of trying to get her there.

She sprinted over to me and put her fingers on the fence grasping it, "Ryoma-kun!" she exclaimed again. Her whole face had lit up in a bright smile. She was breathtaking. Well, at least she seemed happy to see me, after she got over the surprise. I noticed the other girls get back to their games, losing interest quickly.

"Hey," I said.

"Hi…"

"I…came to see Tokyo."

"I know! I got the invitation to your match," she said.

She couldn't have said anything more hurtful to me. I was probably giving her quite the glare, but I was really put out that she didn't come. She didn't look all that sorry either. What's the deal? "I didn't see you there," I stated.

Sakuno looked down, her cheeks flushing pink.

"I…well you see, I was going to go, but I forgot to mail in for the tickets on time-"

"You stupid girl," I said, I allowed a small smirk.

She smiled at me, that smile she would give me like her whole world revolved around me. Her eyes were sparkling at me and I just wanted to wrap her up and take her home with me.

"Sakuno-chan, we need to practice!" her teammate called to her as she started making her way over to the two of us.

"A-ano…" Sakuno started doing that nervous twitching thing she would do. She was frantically looking between me and her teammate. I forced myself not to roll my eyes, stupid girl.

As her teammate got closer though, everything blew up in my face. Upon getting close enough, her teammate had started screaming to the rest of the girls, "Oh my GOD!! It's  _Echizen Ryoma-sama_!" She was pointing me out to the other girls and trying to call them all over.

I gave Sakuno a frightened look as the girls started running towards us. Sure there was a fence separating us, but I'd been mobbed by fangirls one too many times to not have a healthy fear of them. Especially tennis player fangirls that would accidentally beat you up while trying to steal your tennis gear from you. I was a tough guy, but when you have a mob of girls all attacking you at once, you're helpless, doesn't matter who you are. I especially had trouble with it, since I generally avoided girls to begin with. Sakuno was my only exception besides my family, though if I was being honest I usually avoided them too.

I quickly grabbed Sakuno's fingers through the fence, "Come with me."

Sakuno looked torn, "I can't just leave right now Ryoma-kun."

I watched as the girls changed their path mid-way from the fence Sakuno was at to the gate leaving the courts. Oh no…this was going to get really ugly.

"Why not?" I demanded.

"It's complicated," she said softly.

"Sakuno, come with me," I told her again squeezing her fingers for emphasis. Don't make me beg you silly girl, just come with me.

She started crying, and squeezed my fingers back tightly, "Ryoma-kun, what are you doing here?"

What does that have to do with you coming with me right now? Why the hell are you crying?

"I came to see you, you stupid, disappearing girl!" I yelled. I moved my arms, pushing in on our hands, and shook the fence a bit in frustration. It made a satisfying clanging sound above our heads. Why couldn't she ditch practice today and hang out with me?

She cried harder, "Ryoma-kun!"

The fangirls were making their way out of the far gate to the courts. They would be on me any second. I needed to get out of there, damnit; I couldn't leave Sakuno this way again! Why was she crying? I didn't have enough time to get into it either – GRAGH this was seriously pissing me off.

"Sakuno, come see me at Wimbledon," I commanded. I'd barely got it out before I snapped my hands away from Sakuno's fingers and made a mad dash out of the school. The girls chased after me for about a block outside the school before I finally lost them.

Damn!! That didn't go well at all. Why was she crying? Why wouldn't she come with me? Well, at least now I know where to find her.

Sakuno…wait for me. I'm coming back for you, no matter what you say.


	7. Third Time's a Charm

**Never Forgotten**

A RyoSaku romance fanfic by Bunny

* * *

 

Chapter Seven – Third Time's a Charm

* * *

 

Ryoma-kun was not fair. I'd wanted so desperately to go with him that day, but I couldn't do it. I was the new captain and couldn't leave the practice. And Syusuke-kun – how would it make Syusuke-kun look if I ran off with Ryoma-kun? The talk that would come from such an act, I couldn't even fathom it. Sure, I wasn't Syusuke-kun's girlfriend, but it wasn't like anybody else knew that. Syusuke-kun would be labeled "dumped" and I would be labeled as a lose woman, or something else dirty and derogative.

Just seeing Ryoma-kun in person made me so emotional I'd started crying. I had given up hope in him. I had given up hope in us. Then he'd just appeared out of nowhere saying he wanted me to come with him. So instead of running off with Ryoma-kun like I'd wanted so desperately to do, I just cried to him and held his hands.

He says come with me when I can't go with him. It was not fair. He says come with me and then he runs off on me. It was not fair.

So I cried.

I cried and I cried and I cried and I cried. After I was all cried out, I tried to process through what it all meant. I was so confused. I just couldn't figure him out. Ryoma-kun rejects me and then comes to see me at school? I just couldn't wrap my mind around it. There were so many mixed signals, there was so much assumption. He did say he came to see me though, whatever that meant. He also said he wanted to see me again.

After I finally came to grips with what had happened that day he showed up at school, I was dying to see him again. I didn't know if he really liked me or not, or what was going on, but I needed to see him like I needed air to breathe and water to drink.

Syusuke-kun as usual these days, didn't take the news very well. Things had changed for us. After he confessed and I kept telling him I loved Ryoma-kun, Syusuke-kun started getting kind-of depressed. In fact, he was visibly upset about Ryoma-kun's appearance at Seigaku when I told him about it. Syusuke-kun had already graduated, but after Ryoma-kun came to see me, he'd taken to coming by after school to pick me up and drive me home. I don't know why he insisted. I told him not to bother. I told him he didn't need to pick me up, it's not like we were dating. I told him so many times that I loved Ryoma-kun. Every time it got to the point I had to come out and say it again, I watched another piece of him die away before my eyes and it was constantly breaking my heart. What was I supposed to do? I was incapable of loving him the way I loved Ryoma-kun. Ryoma-kun was Ryoma-kun and Syusuke-kun was Syusuke-kun.

Syusuke-kun was a dear friend and he was special to me. He took care of me and he supported me when I thought Ryoma-kun had rejected me. Syusuke-kun taught me everything I knew about tennis and I'd improved because of him. I was team captain because of him. I really owed him a lot. I would love to give him something to show my appreciation, but I couldn't give him my love. My love had been taken by Ryoma-kun when I'd first seen him playing tennis at Wimbledon. It was impossible for me to love anybody but Ryoma-kun. I think Syusuke-kun was starting to understand. I think that's why he was so sad all the time.

He was busy too, going to school to be a doctor actually, and progressing wonderfully or so I heard. Not that he would ever brag about such a thing, but Inui-kun had giving me the percentage breakdown at our last reunion gathering. Syusuke-kun's family bragged on him often enough as well. So of course every time I was with them, they were singing his praise. They thought I was his girlfriend though, so they were probably trying to get me excited about getting married to him someday. It made me sad when I thought about it, but he wouldn't stop and I was too nice to say no. I did, but not enough I guess. I was proud of him too, but everything with us lately was always strained all the time. I wanted to be friends, he wanted to be more. Nothing worked with us anymore and we were both enveloped by his sadness.

I didn't know what to do. I kept telling him that I was going to pursue whatever I could with Ryoma-kun and that he should stop wasting his time on me. It never solved anything. He refused to let me go. Not that he really had me, but I did feel obligated. It was terrible. I felt guilty, I felt selfish, it was eating me up inside. Added to that was that I really cared a lot about Syusuke-kun. He was a dear friend, he was a really great guy, honestly I'm sure I could be really happy with him if I wasn't already in love with Ryoma-kun. But  _my heart_  belonged to Ryoma-kun; it had only ever belonged to Ryoma-kun. I felt so connected to Ryoma-kun when we were together, as briefly as it always was – it was like magic.

Ryoma-kun wanted me at Wimbledon that summer, so I'd set out to working and saving all my money to be able to go out there again to see him this year. The wrench that got thrown into that plan was that Syusuke-kun knew about it. He invited himself as well as the rest of the old Seigaku regulars to go as well. I honestly didn't know if that should terrify me or excite me, but it was what it was. Grandma was so thrilled at the idea of my going away with eight escorts that there was no way I could have ever contested their coming along and won.

So here I was on an airplane out to London again. I'd quadruple checked the dates this time and was fairly confident that I'd timed everything properly this year. Or at least I hoped so, or I'd have eight pretty upset senpais on my hands. Oh yes, somehow all eight of them had been able to come to Wimbledon with me. Even Tezuka-kun and Inui-kun were able to make it because they were going to wait for the US Open for Tezuka-kun's first official tournament. Inui-kun had given me the probable increased percentages of Tezuka-kun winning by observing his opponents at Wimbledon first. They never changed, did they?

It was kind-of nice to have company with me on the trip, but it also increased my stress levels considerably. Oh and most of them weren't actually my senpais anymore. Going from addressing them as senpai to kun was actually effecting my stress levels as well. Kikumaru-kun especially loved to tease me about it. He was way too excited about being called Kikumaru-kun. He'd even tell me to call him Eiji-kun, just to watch me flush in embarrassment.

Despite all these things though, it ended up being the best Wimbledon for me yet.

We arrived early in the afternoon and set about checking into the hotel we were all staying in. At least I got to have my own room. The other added bonus was that I was on a different floor from the boys because they'd all bunked up 2-2-2-2 and requested two beds per room, while I had just needed the one.

Ah…a little bit of privacy at last!

Arriving in my private room, I glanced out the window of my high-rise hotel room and then flopped onto my big fluffy bed. I was at Wimbledon again! I was going to see Ryoma-kun all week! Hopefully I would be able to talk with him again, maybe even spend some time with him. I was so happy to be here! I kicked my feet up and down on the bed for a minute trying to shake off my excited nerves.

"Ryoma-kun!" I squealed to the ceiling, "I'm here to see you!"

This year I finally had it all together and made it to all of Ryoma-kun's matches, on time. Well, having the boys with me did help a lot since I was born directionally challenged and they were easily able to guide me to our seats for all of the matches. I supposed after a week of successfully being a spectator at Wimbledon that it really had been better having them with me. They were very distracting though. It was very hard to fantasize about Ryoma-kun whisking me off into the sunset with eight rowdy boys making a bunch of racket and continually trying to drag me into it.

"Fuji should come to Tokyo University with Oishi and me, right Sakuno-chan?" Kikumaru-kun would ask.

"Ah, it's so good to be young, right Sakuno-chan?" Momo-senpai would comment.

"There is an 85 percent chance that Echizen will approach the net after this return," Inui-kun would share.

"Fsssssshhhh!" Kaidoh-senpai.

"Burning! Yeah, baby! Watching this makes me want to play! I'll beat all of you!! Then when we get home we're all having a sushi party at Kawamura Sushi! Yeah!! You'll come too Sakuno-san!" Kawamura-kun would insist.

"Are you hungry Sakuno-chan? Can I get you something?" Oishi-kun.

Tezuka-kun was thankfully usually quiet, but at times he would join Inui-kun in commentary, minus the data of course.

Sigh. Well, you get the idea.

Then there was Syusuke-kun. He just watched me watch Ryoma-kun. I could always feel his eyes on me, watching me watching him. It was so distracting.

We watched all of Ryoma-kun's matches, but we watched most of the other ones we could as well. Besides Syusuke-kun the other boys didn't know I was only there to see Ryoma-kun. Thankfully Ryoma-kun was the leading attraction being the anticipated winner, so his matches weren't to be missed. The boys would stay out at the courts even longer than I did; they were all really excited to be there, so it ended up being a good thing for all of us. I was pretty jet-lagged, so I usually headed back to my room earlier and slept more.

I still hadn't had the chance to talk to Ryoma-kun though. In fact, I didn't even know if he'd noticed if I was there or not. I suppose it was easy to lose me in the sea of boys I was with. Especially since we usually ended up in the back, far enough away that it would be hard for Ryoma-kun to spot me from that great of a distance. Still, I had to see him and talk to him. I just had to.

Finally, the last day came – the day of the finals. Of course, Ryoma-kun was in the finals that year again, I was really rooting for him to finally make it to his goal of winning Wimbledon and completing the grand slam title. I was desperately trying to figure out how I would be able to talk to him. Of all the lucky things that could happen, we somehow found ourselves in the front row on Ryoma-kun's starting side. We'd been up in the back again, as usual, but about ten minutes before the match was scheduled to begin this funny looking monk had offered us seats in the front. Accepting with much enthusiasm, the nine of us had scrambled down the stairs to the front and resettled. The match would be starting soon! I was so excited!

Then he came out and he was there, right in front of me! I hadn't seen him up close like this since Tokyo! He was shining so brightly in all his tennis glory. This had to be it. This was the year for Ryoma-kun, I could feel the excitement zinging through my body as if I was going to play.

Unable to control myself, I yelled out, "Do your best Ryoma-kun!"

He'd suddenly stopped going through his tennis bag and immediately looked in my direction. I waved, hoping he would see me. He did not disappoint.

Spotting me almost immediately, he gave me a knowing smirk and a wink. I just about melted into a puddle of goo. Ryoma-kun! My heart was beating so fast! He knew I was here! Finally, maybe after this I would get to talk to him again! I was so excited.

Ryoma-kun kept looking at me, our eyes locking for periods at a time as he prepared. He had this little smug half-smile on his face – if you weren't at ground level like I was, you'd never be able to see it under his hat, but it was there. Was it for me? The thought made my heart beat out of my chest, my face flush and my stomach do flips.

In my ecstasy, I heard a few sighs behind me and the excited babble of girls speaking in English. Normally, I would pay no mind, but I kept hearing Ryoma, Ryoma, and Ryoma. I sighed. They were talking about him. I knew it already, but it just drove it home to me - that's how it is with popular guys. Syusuke-kun got a lot of attention from the girls at school too, but that hadn't bothered me – probably because I didn't like him like that. Ryoma-kun though…I tried really hard not to get upset and jealous, it would be petty of me, it's not like they were trying to attack him the way the tennis team had. It's not like we were together either. I hadn't known I could be so possessive. I tried to ignore it.

The match started and Ryoma-kun was doing really well. I continued to cheer for him and he continued to look at me between points. I felt like I was really supporting him directly during his important match and it made me so happy to be there for him.

The girls behind us got worse though as the match progressed, I still didn't understand their fast English, but their tones in their voices and the intimate way they said  _"Ryoma"_  was really starting to bother me. Did they know him too? Was Ryoma-kun seeing some English girls? I was allowing myself to get upset and I knew it, but I couldn't help it. They were so loud, and they were right behind me and they wouldn't stop!

Syusuke-kun must have noticed, because after the first set, he'd changed seats with Momo-senpai to sit next to me. "Sakuno-chan, these girls behind us want to eat up your man," he taunted.

"You can understand them?" I asked. Wow, I didn't know Syusuke-kun was so good with English! I shouldn't be surprised; he excelled at everything he did. It was really admirable, one of the many things I liked about him.

"Yes, and let me tell you – they think he's winking at them, not you. Sakuno-chan, what shall we do about them?" he asked.

I gave him a dubious look. Syusuke-kun - he sure was the type to go looking for trouble, wasn't he? Mou. What was I going to do with this guy? He was really a glutton for punishment, wasn't he? He tells me he likes me, I tell him I love Ryoma-kun, he pursues me anyways, I continue to turn him down. Then when I chase after Ryoma-kun he decides he wants to get involved with my competition? I just didn't know what to think of it. Syusuke-kun, why are you so confusing all the time? He had his eyes opened to watch my face closely. He was so good at reading my thoughts it honestly frightened me sometimes. As usual, he hit the nail on the head.

Before I could answer, he'd twisted behind us and spoke in rapid English to the girls. I don't know what he said, but it definitely upset them, their tone changed immediately as they responded to whatever he'd said. I continued staring forward, watching Ryoma-kun distractedly. I started feeling very uncomfortable, like a lot of eyes were on my back. I tried hard not to fidget and show my discomfort.

A minute later Syusuke-kun turned back around and threw an arm casually over my shoulders, knocking the side of his forehead into the side of mine, "I think I-"

-smack!-

"Syusuke-kun!" I exclaimed standing up to brace us as he grabbed at me so he wouldn't fall off the bench. Did I see that correctly? Had he just been knocked in the side of the head by a tennis ball? I looked at the green ball bouncing on the ground by us in shock. Following the path of the ball, I glanced towards the court only to see Ryoma-kun glaring our direction and pointing his racquet at Syusuke-kun.

"Stay away from Sakuno," Ryoma-kun declared his glare full-force on Syusuke-kun.

Syusuke-kun caught himself and stood up.

The entire stadium was silent in shocked disbelief. Even the overhead announcers were silent. Did I really just see what I think I just saw? Ryoma-kun had just aimed the ball at Syusuke-kun and hit him in the head? And now he was glaring at him? Did he really tell him to stay away from me? What in the world was going on here?

"No," Syusuke-kun replied back darkly. Goodness, he had his eyes open again and he was giving Ryoma-kun his scariest look. I would have run away crying by now if he looked at me like that.

"Stay away from her!" Ryoma-kun commanded.

My gaze flew back towards Ryoma-kun, he hadn't budged a bit. I turned my head back to look at Syusuke-kun. He had that evil gleam in his eye like he was about to do something. I panicked.

Then Syusuke-kun started laughing this low, dry, broken laugh, "You _really do_  like Sakuno-chan, don't you?"

At that Ryoma-kun took his eyes away to look at the referee, and said, "Time out."

"Time-out!" the referee called out.

"Time-out called by Ryoma Echizen," I heard called through the loud speakers.

Time-out? I scanned my limited English to reference the phrase. I heard it often enough watching Ryoma-kun's matches. I think it meant he was taking a break…

Ryoma-kun briskly jogged over to us and taking my hand started pulling me away from the seating area.

"Ryoma-kun," I said, startled that he'd come over here.

"Come on Sakuno," he said calmly as he continued pulling me towards the court.

The boys all started yelling at Ryoma-kun.

"Hey, what are you doing? You can't take away Sakuno-chan!"

"Fshhhh!!"

"Burning! I don't care who you are, you can't have her!"

"Fuji! Do something!"

"Hoi, hoi! I never thought I'd see this!"

"There was less than 1 percent chance of this happening."

I looked back at them, as I allowed Ryoma-kun to tug me along behind him. Syusuke-kun didn't say anything; he just gave me a sad defeated look as he sat back down. The other boys were giving disbelieving looks between the three of us.

That's when I snapped out of my shocked daze and realized what was happening. Ryoma-kun was taking me away from the boys and pulling me towards the court. Wait! I wasn't allowed on the court, right? Oh no! Not again! And at Wimbledon, too! Why me?

"Ryoma-kun, I'm not allowed," I tried to remind him as I slowed my step, forcing him to slow as well.

He tugged on my hand, pulling me back to our original speed. "What are you talking about you silly girl? You can sit on the bench. I don't want you near that guy," he added.

"Syusuke-kun?" I asked.

"Syusuke-kun, huh?" he repeated. He had an irritated frown on his face.

I wasn't really sure what to say, so I didn't say anything as I followed along helplessly. Syusuke-kun and I had pretty much been super complicated ever since the Australian Open. If you asked me, we weren't dating, if you asked him, we were. If you asked me, I loved Ryoma-kun if you asked him, he loved me. I'd told him very clearly and emphatically before coming here how much it meant to me to have another chance with Ryoma-kun. He'd argued with me, but conceded. I wasn't expecting Ryoma-kun to hit a ball at his head like that though. And I certainly wasn't expecting Ryoma-kun to make anything to do with me public. Wasn't he trying to avoid that? I mean, he didn't want us seen together a few months ago in Australia, so what could have possibly changed his mind? What a scene. I don't think I've ever been so embarrassed in all my life.

Ryoma-kun was sitting me on the bench and lecturing me. He was going on and on about how I had to stay there and that if I disappeared on him again he would hunt me down and tie me up or chain me to him.

I started giggling at the picture his threats painted in my head. I imagined the two of us wobbling around chained to each other. Then I pictured Ryoma-kun trying to explain why he had a girl tied up on the bench at the tennis court. I never knew he was such a funny guy!

He stopped mid-rant at my laughter, "What?"

"Ryoma-kun has really thought about this," I got out between giggles.

He gave me a mock glare and huffed, "Only because you're such a stupid girl! If you'd quit disappearing on me, it wouldn't be a problem."

"I've been here all week, but Ryoma-kun didn't find me until today," I teased.

"We're going to talk about that later too, don't you dare move!" he said as he stepped back onto the court.

I shook my head back and forth, indicating that I wouldn't move. Ryoma-kun was so cute!

Despite being rather uncomfortable about being in the spotlight, I did have the best seat in the whole place. Well, with the exception of the referee. He had a height advantage over me allowing him to see the court better. I had the best seat to watch Ryoma-kun though, so I treasured it. I did have to keep changing from one side of the court to the other with all of Ryoma-kun's stuff though. Every time we changed courts, I could feel the pressure of all the people watching me. Was this how Ryoma-kun felt during a match? Did he feel all this pressure? I wondered.

Ryoma-kun was pretty quiet. I could tell he was really focused on his match, so we didn't say anything to each other during the small breaks of changing courts and between the sets. I was okay with that though, just being with him and being able to support him in whatever way I could was more than enough for me. I was really happy actually. A couple of times, he smiled at me when we were close together and nobody could really see his face except for me. It made me feel so special and my heart would jump out of my chest beating wildly in delight. He seemed to like it that I was there with him. He'd warned off Syusuke-kun, taken me with him and told me not to leave him again. Maybe I had misunderstood Ryoma-kun all this time? This definitely felt like we, well we were something. It was about as public and public got too.

Did that mean that I misunderstood him in Australia? If I had misunderstood…I frowned. That would mean that I missed out on a lot. We could have spent more time together in Australia and I could have seen him when he was in Tokyo for more than five minutes. I wouldn't have been crying over him all the time and I wouldn't have had the problems I'd been having with Syusuke-kun. I thought I understood Ryoma-kun, but maybe I really didn't. Maybe it was my fault for being so insecure. I knew I felt a strong connection to him; maybe he acted the way he did with me because he felt it too?

I didn't really get to think about it all too much though, because it was as I was mulling this over in my head that I heard, "Game and match, Ryoma Echizen!" announced.

Ryoma-kun had won the final set, and had finally won Wimbledon! The crowd had exploded with noise and clapping. I jumped off of the bench in excitement, bouncing up and down and screaming in happiness. I couldn't help it; it was such a BIG DEAL. Ryoma-kun had just won his third title in a row, completing the grand slam! The whole stadium was going crazy!

Ryoma-kun ran over to me and picked me up mid bounce swinging me around with him in circles while smiling in obvious delight. I'd never seen him look so excited about anything before. I'd never seen him smile like that before either. Even after winning other tournaments he was usually so nonchalant about it.

And then, he set me back down on my feet and tilting his head down slightly, he kissed me.


	8. The End is the Beginning

**Never Forgotten**

A RyoSaku romance fanfic by Bunny

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Chapter Eight – The End is the Beginning

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I'd done it.

It had taken sixteen years, (yes I was playing tennis before I could talk) but I'd finally completed the Grand Slam. I wasn't actually sure what to do with myself after this come to think of it, but I had a few ideas.

There was a beautiful girl my age with long brown braids and big brown eyes that would follow me to the ends of the earth if I asked her. Don't ask me how I knew that, I just did. From the day I had first met her at Wimbledon last year; she had been on my mind almost constantly. My life went from eat, sleep, tennis to eat, sleep, Sakuno, tennis.

Though, I didn't find out her name until the Australian Open a little under six months later. That…actually hadn't gone as well as I'd planned it all to go in my head either. I had proceeded from there to chase her all the way to Tokyo only to be met with tears. A year after meeting, we finally came to an understanding.

I'd won. It was my third Wimbledon and I'd won. She had been right there on the bench and after swinging her around in excitement, I'd leaned over and kissed her and she had melted into me. It was magic. The crowd was still cheering and the announcer's speakers were blaring with excited commentary, and I was aware of it on some level in the background, but it was nothing compared to the feelings that were exploding inside of me.

It was as if everything in my life that mattered, everything I had been working for all came together to form one moment of  _perfection_.

I pulled away from her and held her close as she smiled up at me. It was that beautiful smile that sparkled all the way to her eyes and took my breath away. This girl was going to be my undoing that was for sure. I didn't, however, have the chance to say two words to her before we were suddenly surrounded by my parents and a hoard of guys close to our age.

My old man had grabbed me into a headlock and I watched in horror as my mother engulfed Sakuno in her arms, crying and wailing about how "her baby has a girlfriend." After I was released from headlock, the guys that Sakuno had been sitting with were all thumping me on the back and congratulating me. A few of them exclaimed that they had "no idea Echizen-san liked Sakuno-chan!" I don't think I've ever been more embarrassed. Oh man, what did I get myself into?

Shortly thereafter, all twelve of us ended up in my hotel suite. We ordered sushi and sake to celebrate, making it a private party away from the media. To my disappointment, I didn't get any alone time with Sakuno, but I was still _with her._  And a bunch of other people, but they don't count. As promised, she stayed by my side from the moment I dragged her to the sideline bench during my match. It was the most time we'd ever actually been able to spend together. Finally, we were together. To just be in her presence…it was enough, for now. That night, I got to get to know some of her friends, too. I finally felt like a real part of her life, not just this person she kept bumping into. Well…maybe that was an understatement - I'd always felt strongly about her, but just hanging out like this really made me - well…it just felt right.

I tried  _really hard_  not to let it bother me that all of her friends were  _guys_. I tried even harder not to pound Fuji Syusuke, the one that had put his arm around her during my match. At the time, from my perspective it had looked like he was about to kiss her - bumping his head all close to her like that I'd just…reacted. Instead of aiming the ball back at my opponent I gave it my strongest swing towards Fuji Syusuke's face, and knocked him out of his seat. I didn't even think about what a scene it would create, I'd just seen a guy's head getting too close to Sakuno's and seen red.

There were two universal truths that everybody needed to understand. One, nobody beats me at tennis. And two, nobody gets fresh with my girl.

It figured, that's all there is to it. I suppose I should know well enough by now that Sakuno and I aren't always level-headed around each other. We have a history of doing crazy things around each other. This new one, I was sure would be the biggest scandal in tennis history pretty much ever, even topping her bandage incident last summer, but I'm done caring about that. If I even hinted at it, Sakuno would probably disappear on me again like she had in Australia, that stupid girl! So fine, let the public talk.

The two of us  _were_  teased relentlessly about it all night though. I heard all about it from my old man, who wouldn't stop going on and on about how possessive his kid was. Sakuno was teased by most of her friends, and I got it a bit from a couple of them too. I just pulled my hat down and ignored them. Sakuno just blushed red with embarrassment and stuttered every time it was brought up.

After a few hours of partying, most everyone was passed out on the floor or my bed and I found myself sitting alone with Sakuno in the corner. She was leaning against my side, her head resting on my shoulder. She seemed to be nodding off a bit herself, but she couldn't sleep yet. This was our chance now that almost everybody else was sleeping...

I didn't know what to do though. Did I talk to her? Did I put my arm around her? Should I hold her hand? Should I say something first, or? I looked at her from the corner of my eyes, trying to figure out what to do.

Heh. Maybe I should just kiss her again.

"No way! You're wrong!"

"You wanna bet? I'm sure of it!"

"You're wrong! Fssshhh!"

"I'm not making this up man; he said that, I'm sure!"

I glanced across the room where two of Sakuno's friends were arguing. They were the only ones awake besides the two of us. Though, Sakuno was nodding off…

Those two guys were always arguing about something. I'd only known them for a few hours, but they were constantly fighting.

"So what's the deal with those two?" I asked Sakuno nodding in their general direction.

Sakuno perked up and lifted her head to look at them, "Oh, you mean Momo-senpai and Kaidoh-senpai?"

"Hn."

"They're rivals. They have always been like that, ever since back in Jr. High when I first met them," she explained.

"Hn. So they must be part of the tennis team that goes to the Nationals?" I asked.

"Yes. Well, all of them are, but all the others here graduated this spring," she informed.

I nodded. I guess that's why she was running around calling most of them -kun and the other two senpai. It was stupid I guess, but I had hoped I was the only guy she was close to. I got it though – they were her close friends, nothing to get jealous over. They were all addressed by their family name, with the exception of Fuji Syusuke. I wasn't sure if I wanted to ask about that one or not.

It turned out that I didn't have to.

"Oi, Sakuno-chan," Momoshiro Takeshi one of the bickering guys called over. He'd told me to call him Momo-chan when we were introduced, but I couldn't really wrap my head around that just yet.

"Yes?" Sakuno asked.

"I thought you were dating Fuji," he said.

What.

Twitch. Okay, so I wasn't the only one that noticed there was something weird with that guy. Damn. If it was just me, that's one thing, but if they thought so too…

"Fsssssssshhhhh!" Kaidoh Kaoru hissed. His annoyance was apparent.

I watched as Sakuno suddenly began to flail around nervously. She was flushing red and stuttering up a storm. "M-M-Momo-senpaaaaiiiii!! I was _ABSOLUTELY_ _NOT_  dating Syusuke-kun!" she finally spit out emphatically.

"Fssssshhhh! I told you," I heard Kaidoh growl out to Momoshiro.

So that's it? Again, I didn't have to ask. I was really starting to like this Momoshiro guy; it was nice to let someone ask questions for me.

"But Sakuno-chan, you two were always walking together before he graduated and now he comes and picks you up after school! I've seen him! Besides, didn't he  _say_  he was your  _boyfriend_?" Momoshiro prodded.

He said he was her  _what_? Okay, this was beyond pissing me off now. Just what was the story with this guy?

I watched Sakuno's face turn from flushed to glaring red. I could see sparks flaming out of her eyes. Wow, she was angry. I'd never seen her angry, it was kind-of shocking. I just never imagined such a meek girl could get so fired up. Hmmm...

Well, he was making it sound like they were dating. I would be pissed off too if someone tried to say I was seeing some other girl with Sakuno around to hear about it. Could it possibly be true though?

No. No way. I wouldn't believe it. Sakuno said  _I_  would always have her. End of story right there.

I didn't like this whole subject. Maybe I should wake that guy up and pound him anyways? He deserved it. There was no way she was seeing another guy. She wouldn't have kissed me the way she did today if she had a boyfriend, so what business did he have going around saying that? I looked at her from the side of my eyes, taking in her flushed, angry face and wild looking eyes.

Finally collecting herself, Sakuno spoke calm and low, "I asked him to go to Ryoma-kun's exhibition game with me and he started telling everybody we were dating and walking me home from school." She paused and let out a long-suffering sigh, "I thought he was just playing around."

She stopped there and Momoshiro and Kaidoh were looking at her expectantly. I kept looking at her face out of the corner of my eyes. We all knew there was more to it than that. Damn. Forget it. I don't want to hear the rest of this.

"But he wasn't," I finished for her and stood up. Which meant that they were dating - or at least in Fuji Syusuke's head they were. I needed to get out of here. What the hell? I was positive about this girl. Positively positive – this just couldn't really be happening to me, could it? There's no way she's dating Fuji Syusuke for real, she wouldn't have been kissing me and she wouldn't be sitting with me and she wouldn't have come here at all, right?

Sakuno stood up as well and put a hand on my arm. I thought about shrugging it off, but didn't get the chance.

"Ryoma-kun, I swear, we were never dating!" she said. She was grabbing part of my shirt sleeve in her fist, clutching at it as if it were a life-line. She looked desperate for me to believe her. Tears were gathering in her eyes.

I needed some time alone. I never thought I would ever feel betrayed from Sakuno, it wasn't us. The two of us were tied together and I couldn't imagine the idea that there was this other guy in her life that wanted her the way I did. I would kill him.

"Fsssssssssshhhh!" Kaidoh hissed, finally speaking up, "Fuji likes Sakuno-san, we all know that, but she rejects him all the time."

Well, now that got my attention. I turned and looked at Kaidoh; he had a serious look in his eyes. He seemed well informed. He also struck me as the type of guy that wouldn't speak up unless it was important. Maybe I was overreacting a bit. Not that I was ever clear headed about Sakuno, but still.

"Hey! Mamushi, how do you know that?" Momoshiro asked. I still hadn't found out why Momoshiro and some of the others called him that, I mean, he did hiss a lot, but it seemed kind-of strange to me.

Kaidoh hissed again, "I've heard them, lots of times. Her house is on my jogging route and they argue about it all the time."

I looked back at Sakuno. She had started crying; big silent tears dripping out of her eyes and streaking down her face. It reminded me of her crying at her school. So, this was her sadness?

"It breaks his heart," she sobbed. "I always told him I loved Ryoma-kun, but he wouldn't listen to me!"

I didn't know if I should be elated or pissed off. I mean, she'd just confessed that she loved me. I kind-of knew it already, but it still felt absolutely fantastic to hear it. My heart was pounding out of my chest in this crazy spastic way. I probably had a stupid grin on my face. I stamped down my inclination to scoop her up in my arms and do a repeat of my victory kiss.

On the other hand…she was upset and crying over this prick. Damnit, this sucks. Fuji Syusuke, I'm going to kill you when you wake up you bastard. What the hell were you doing trying to take Sakuno away from me? I put an arm around Sakuno's back, reassuring myself that she was really mine and made myself a promise. She wasn't going to be around Fuji Syusuke anymore. Whatever the future had in store for me, for her, it would be together. Anybody that got in the way of that would regret it.

She was leaning her forehead on my shoulder again, crying her tears to the floor, sniffling. I glared at Momoshiro.

He held both of his hands up, "Hey man, don't tell me you didn't want to know what the story was with those two. You're the one who kissed her."

I turned my eyes away from them and desperately tried to suppress my blush from showing on my face. Damn, I could feel it heating up already.

"He's blushing!" Momoshiro exclaimed excitedly. "Wow, Echizen really does love Sakuno-chan, who would have thought our sweet little Sakuno-chan and Echizen Ryoma? Ah, it's so good to be young. So young, so young."

"Shut up Momoshiro," Kaidoh hissed.

I gave him a grateful look. Kaidoh and Momoshiro started right in with another argument. Sakuno was still crying on my shoulder, so I sat her back down with me in our corner. After we were settled, I dropped my head on the wall behind me. It made a satisfying thumping sound, but it did hurt a little. I let out a frustrated sigh.

"Do you think we'll ever get this right?" I asked her quietly.

I tilted my head forward and watched as she sniffled some and wiped her face with the back of her hand that wasn't still grasping desperately to my shirt. Finally, she nodded her head against me. I could feel it moving my shirt back and forth on my shoulder. It was enough.

"Okay," I said. I let my head rest back against the wall and closed my eyes.

The next thing I knew, I was waking up with a stiff neck, a stiff back, and a sore ass.

Sakuno had disappeared again. I was trying to find her little body and hitting nothing but air. Where the hell was she?

My old man was poking me, which seemed to be what woke me up. "Look boy, we even got a picture of you sleeping with your cute little girlfriend," he said as he tossed a Polaroid picture into my lap. I rubbed my blurry eyes and pulled the picture closer to get a look at it. I smiled at seeing Sakuno curled up around me, sleeping with her head on my shoulder as I slept up against the corner of the wall. Okay, so there were maybe worse things to wake up to than pictures like this.

"He's smiling, call the doctor," I heard him say to my Mother.

I looked up at them. My Mother was standing next to my old man with a silly grin on her face. She started giggling, "Grandbabies!"

I swore.

My old man started laughing as I got up and went into the bathroom, slamming the door behind me.

So where was Sakuno? That stupid girl had better not have disappeared for real on me again! First order of business, get clean. Second order of business, find Sakuno and chain her to me. That was it; she was so cut off from not being chained up with me. If she couldn't just stay next to me like I told her to, she would just have to be chained up with me.

I turned on the shower as I heard the bathroom door banged on.

"They flew back to Tokyo this morning," I heard my old man call through the door.

I swore again and heard my old man walk away, laughing his head off again.

Well, I guess that decided that then.

Ryoma Echizen now that you've won the Grand Slam Title, what are you going to do?

Well, I'm sure not going to Disneyland, John.

Damn straight I'm not. I'm going to hunt down my disappearing girlfriend and make sure she stays where she's supposed to be from now on. By my side! I was so mad at her for running off on me again. I couldn't believe it! After all that lecturing I gave her about not disappearing, she left me? Again? Absolutely un-freaking-believable.

It took a lot longer than I wanted it to take, but it turned out better in the end. Wimbledon and the US Open were only two months apart, so my time was limited and I had a lot to do. Instead of getting on a plane and tracking Sakuno down in Tokyo, which was of course my first inclination, I ended up on a plane going back home to New York. Saying I was in a permanent bad mood, would be an understatement. I was so cranky I took it out on just about everybody all the time. Even Karupin didn't want to be around me because I was so volatile. I knew it and I couldn't help it.

I had a plan though, and now that I'd won the Grand Slam nothing would stop me from carrying it out.

A month; it took me a month to get everything in order, but it was what it was. I  _finally_  found myself back in Japan and all moved into the temple our family owned. We were here and here for good. My Mother was only too excited to be moving to Japan, she wanted me close to Sakuno above all other things. That actually bothered me quite a bit. I wasn't ready for having kids and all the stuff she kept hinting at. I was only sixteen. So what if I knew I wanted to marry her someday? That was  _someday_ , not right now with  _frickin'_ _babies_. My old man on the other hand didn't really care where we lived so long as there were cute girls and a tennis court near by. Sheesh…that guy really pisses me off.

Making our way to Seigaku, my old man and I hit the principal's office first; where I was transferred into the school. I nodded off a bit through all the formalities. My old man took his time explaining that I would need to be able to leave for tournaments, and to fulfill sponsorship requirements and such, but that I would need to go to school there when I could. He was bragging on me way to much. It was embarrassing. The principle was excited about having me there and immediately started pressuring me to join the tennis team. Whatever - I figured that wouldn't be so bad to play tennis on a school team. Momoshiro and Kaidoh seemed cool enough and I knew they were regulars on the team.

I didn't really care much though; I'd already beat everybody at tennis. I was keeping up with it because I didn't know what else to do. I was Echizen Ryoma and I played tennis. That's all there was to it. First order of business _now_ , was to go find Sakuno. That's what I cared about.

We had left early in the morning and by the time my enrollment process was concluding; the lunch bell had already rung. I gave up on waiting around for the old guys to stop yakking away. "I'm going to go explore for a bit," I announced as I walked out of the office and made my way to the classrooms. I passed by the first year rooms not even sparing them a glance and quickly made my way to the row of rooms all labeled as second-year rooms. Sakuno and I were second years in Japanese High School terms, so she'd be in one of them. I was sure of it.

I'd discovered that morning from the Principal that it was the last day of school at Seigaku before summer vacation began. It was a good thing I'd got all my affairs together and made it to Japan on time to find Sakuno before she went on break and proved to be unreachable for a month. What a pain that would have been. I seriously would have broke into the school for the record books to find her address or, or something. I wouldn't have sat on that though. Hell no…

Sakuno, where are you? What room are you in? When will I see you? I was so close to her. I was starting to feel nervous. It'd been a month. A month since I'd seen her. What would I say? What would she think about my moving to Japan?

I poked my head in each second year room quickly; trying to track her down. Finally, towards the end of the hallway, I found her in room 2-4. I let out a sigh of relief. I didn't even know I'd been holding my breath. She was there though, she was there and she looked just as beautiful as I remembered. Seeing her in a school uniform instead of a tennis outfit was a bit of a change, in a good way…

She was sitting at a desk I assumed was hers towards the back of the classroom eating a bento. There was a loud girl who was standing over her with short brown hair pulled into two pigtails telling her some story. I slid the door open and started making my way over to her. Immediately, a few of the students recognized me and a murmur of furious whispers began in my wake.

"Oh my God, it's Echizen Ryoma!"

"What is he doing here?"

"Didn't you see him kiss Sakuno-san at Wimbledon? I bet he's here to pick her up!"

"Shhhh! He can hear you!"

Yes, I could hear them, but I didn't care. I stayed focused on Sakuno. She was oblivious to the stir I'd caused; her eyes were closed as she laughed into her hand about something the loud girl had said to her.

I reached her desk and stopped at her side. Her friend looked at me right away and gasped out a startled, "Ryoma-sama!"

I blinked. Ryoma- _sama_ …what the hell?

Sakuno's eyes flew open and seeing me her mouth formed a startled O as she dropped her chopsticks onto her desk. The murmuring of Sakuno's classmates had increased now that it was obvious I was there for her, but I just watched Sakuno's chopsticks clack back and forth on her desk and finally settle. There was a pause of no movement from her or her chopsticks and then her eyes lit up.

"Ryoma-kun!" she finally exclaimed when she found her voice. She flailed about getting out of her chair and finally stood up next to me. She smiled that special smile she always gives me. She was happy I was here. Good, because I think my heart was about to explode.

"Sakuno," I said as I tilted my head down and kissed her. She immediately fell into me, and I held her up a bit, smiling in satisfaction at her reaction. The noise in the classroom had completely erupted to ear-splitting capacity.

"Noisy!" I complained, turning my head slightly towards the other students as we broke away.

Silence.

Ignoring everybody else, I pulled Sakuno closer to me; she was still a bit wobbly on her feet from kissing.

"I'm home."

She gave me a giddy grin, understanding showing in her eyes, "Welcome home… _Ryoma_."

And of course, we lived happily ever after in my big temple in Tokyo, eventually.


End file.
